mmm 





SIDFORD R HAMP 



« 


✓ 




Class , 

P 

L._ 

’Z-T 


Book i 

4 18' 

lC 


Copyright )1? 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



i 


\ 



V .'{. •* 



tM \ ^ , 


< > 




.u 


i ' 




•• M^* -V"'* 


,»A ’ * ‘ ' 

A. ^ .’ll 







* 

tt 


y 


•• '/ .• • ■ 


* */; 




■ ^ 


* * • • 


t.** 


I 4 


4 \ 


t t 


-/m ■ . ^■'^' 

'LP 


• % < 


• I 


c" 'V''^- 

)i :'A ' 




r 


f 




' kV'^• ' ' ' '■y'* j 

m^'-M ' 


ii . ♦'• V -. V ' • ^vWjHvSWy ^ 




^ ■ .'• 

M i 



♦ " i ' ' "' * fy^A 

'^•v' • • ■^ . # 

\s.r ■■' "•'■"‘.aii! 







y A 


0 


« 

/ ( 


A, * 




oa" 


‘ I 


4 I 


- ;'•!"' 

I- ’ ^ .!»##▼ Wl/ a 

. , ' ■; . >/.«,' -‘:.w •..' »• •*.■. ■ . ■' t 


\ .• 


‘a ,W':'X\^' . 

|.,,r . ^>'/;; ^■ .■>'<. j''. 

f ^ ‘ ■' W-»'.;i.v v 

. WInHiHKaKv , '>■' ' ' ■< ^ -r 


' ^ 


V' - 


*• / 


. » 

* , 


I I ' 

« ' 


I • ^ 


' ) 




. I 

^ f 


1» •* VX - ,^ I * # ^ • 


< , 

« 



/ ^ 

■. ‘I :'>■ '. ' ■■.V 

•■ * '•', f 

■•' V, ;:7‘-;r'> V»v/f 


i 


. > "#* A 



< . C ■ i!V* 

‘ •;• •' -• 


I . . • «. -^iijijy 

' - ;-'a:;(S' 

* ^ . a : 

i V . - O 


a : :." .'.ra-a 

. ( ■ ■''■''■^'<'r.. 



4 


A/.: 


*■ ■ ' / M 


4 i 

•/ 


I . 


• ‘ *, I? •;. •/* 

■■'. •; .'•yv'-', a'"' 


1* 




■: .4 ’ ’ 

va-. #v *• 


r '. 


I’ 1 


■L' 
























coco BOLO 






f- l' ^ ^7^ •* 






\ til 


^^y/C \ 

C * • ♦ •»lr jf •» 1 

P'.vnVv:J*r^ 



L*^k 


Up the garden ran the King 





coco BOLO 

King of the Floating Islands 


SIDFORD F. HAMP 



BOSTON 

RICHARD G. BADGER 

THE GORHAM PRESS 
I9II 


Copyright, 1910, by Richard G. Badger 


All Rights Reserved 



©CUa'6'8194 


The Gorham Press, Boston, U S. a. 


CONTENTS 


Chapter One 

The Shadow-Chasers 9 

Chapter Two 

Admiral Boxwood 19 

Chapter Three 

The Royal Yacht 31 

Chapter Four 

The King’s Hounds 43 

Chapter Five 

The Court Crier 56 

Chapter Six 

Refreshments 71 

Chapter Seven 

Coco Bolo Rex. .|. .1. . . ... ........... 84 

Chapter Eight 

Lobsterneck . . . .,. ...... 95 


3 


CONTENTS 


Chapter Nine 

The Snap-Dragon Sings . 109 

Chapter Ten 

The Archbishop 120 

Chapter Eleven 

The Blue-Gum Policeman 134 


4 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Up the Garden Ran the King Frontispiece 

Shadow Chasing 13 »- 

Picked Up the Little Admiral 23 

Allowed the Anchor to Hit Him 33 

His Heels Went up in the Air . . . 45 

Down He Plumped on the Top Step 65 

Began Gently Floating Down Again 77 

Turned Heels Up and Came Floating Down 
Head First 97 

With that He Unfolded a Sheet of Music and 
Prepared to Sing 107 

He Was a Jaunty Young Gentleman 123 

Away He Went, Straight for the Palace 13 1 • 

Nor Was it Surprising That She Should Sit and 
Stare I 43 


5 









coco BOLO 

KING OF THE FLOATING ISLANDS 




Coco Bolo 

CHAPTER I 

THE SHADOW-CHASERS 

“ ■'■“^DWARD can’t come,” said Margaret: 
1.^ “he’d get tired too soon and want to 
I go home again.” 

“No, Edward can’t come,” Frances 
agreed. “His legs are too short. We must wait till 
he goes upstairs for his nap, and then we’ll start.” 

There were three children in the family: Mar- 
garet, who was nearly eight; Frances, who was six 
and a quarter; and Edward, who, being only half 
way between three and four, was still — as Frances 
had sagely remarked — too short in the legs for such 
an enterprise as the two little girls had in mind. 

They had been spending the winter on the coast 
of Southern California, when, one morning in April, 
Margaret and Frances went out into the road in 
front of the house, and turning their backs to the 
sun, amused themselves by running after their 
shadows, trying to step on their own heads — a feat 
they had often attempted before, but never yet with 
any success. 


9 


coco BOLO 


While they were thus occupied, their father, com- 
ing out of the house, stood on the edge of the side- 
walk watching them, and when the two children, 
tousled and breathless, presently came back to him, 
he put an arm round the shoulders of each, saying: 

“What are you doing. Chicks? Chasing shad- 
ows?” 

“Yes, Daddy.” It was Margaret who replied. 
“We were trying to get to the other end — ” 

“So’s we could tread on our own heads,” said 
Frances, who never liked to be left out of the con- 
versation. 

“Ah! A difficult thing to do. Nobody ever suc- 
ceeded yet that I know of except little Tom Tit- 
mouse, and very much surprised he was when he got 
there.” 

“Why?” asked both children, with eager antici- 
pation, scenting a story. 

“Be-cause,” replied their father, spreading out 
the word in order to give himself time to think. “Be- 
cause — But it’s too long a story to tell you now, 
children, for I must leave in a minute. So the story 
must wait till this evening — unless you should man- 
age to catch your shadows before I get home again, 
and then you can tell me whether it is all true or 
not.” 


10 


THE SHADOW-CHASERS 

“Whether what is all true, Daddy?” asked Mar- 
garet. 

“Why, all those things that Tommy Titmouse 
saw : King Coco Bolo and the Archbishop and Lob- 
sterneck, the Great American Snap-dragon, and — 
but I must go, children. I must be off. Good-bye I 
There’s my car coming now.” 

So saying. Daddy ran to the street corner, and 
there, with a wave of his hand, he vanished, leaving 
the two little girls standing before the front gate, 
thinking. 

“We’ll try this morning,” said Margaret with de- 
cision. “We’ll start just as soon as Edward goes 
upstairs for his nap.” 

Accordingly, the moment Edward’s short legs had 
conveyed him unwillingly to bed, the two little girls 
went out at the back gate to where a large open 
stretch of land sloped gently down to the ocean, about 
half a mile away. A few trees were scattered here 
and there upon the slope, and between them, far out 
upon the water, might be seen some bare, rocky is- 
lands, with the sight of which the children were fa- 
miliar-islands where nobody lived and to which no- 
body ever went. 

Margaret was a rather tall little girl, with brown 
eyes and brown hair and red cheeks, while Frances, 
II 


coco BOLO 


who was not quite so tall, had light hair and hazel 
eyes and pink cheeks, as well as a band of freckles 
all across her nose. Both of them were wearing that 
morning their pink dresses and flowered hair-ribbons 
— a very fortunate circumstance, as it turned out. 
Margaret also wore a wide-brimmed straw hat, 
while her sister carried instead a pink-and-white par- 
asol — one of her last birthday presents. She took 
with her as well another of her birthday presents : a 
yellow plush puppy with black spots. Periwinkle by 
name, whose legs were like sausages, whose eyes 
were glittering black beads, and whose red worsted 
mouth was set in a perpetual smile. 

Thus equipped, the children set forth, and turning 
their backs to the sun and their faces to the ocean, 
they walked after their shadows, steadily and brisk- 
ly, though without haste. 

“For,” said Frances, “the way to do is not to hur- 
ry. That is what Daddy said that day we walked 
to the old wreck. He said, ‘Take it easy and keep 
going,’ and we did and we got there.” 

“Yes,” responded her sister. “Daddy always 
knows; so we won’t hurry; and then we shan’t get 
so hot either.” 

It was hot enough, though, hurry or no hurry, for 
the morning was unusually sultry. The sun beat 
12 




Shadow chasing 






I 


I, 




i 


I 


r 


f 




I 







1 


* 


t 


> 


I 




t 

I 


♦ 


t 


V 


A 




THE SHADOW-CHASERS 


down upon them, the ground was steaming and the 
air was all in a quiver; and what was worse, though 
they kept on walking and walking, they seemed to 
get no nearer to the other end of their shadows. It 
was rather discouraging. 

They were persevering little girls, however, and 
knowing how pleased Daddy would be to learn 
whether it really was true about Coco Bolo and the 
Archbishop and Lobsterneck, the Great American 
Snap-Dragon, they kept on and on, growing more 
tired and more hot and more discouraged at every 
step — especially Frances, who had the puppy to 
carry — when, without their having noticed what had 
become of them, their shadows suddenly disap- 
peared ! 

On the brink of a steep little cliff about six feet 
high, at the foot of which the waters of a small in- 
let gently lapped the rocks, there stood a grove of 
ten or twelve trees — short, stubby trees, all leaning 
landward, as trees growing on the edge of the sea 
always do. The shadows led the children straight 
to this grove of trees, and there, lo and behold! they 
vanished. Where had they got to? 

Margaret and Frances looked all about. They 
looked upon the ground and they looked up into the 
trees, but look where they might no shadows could 

15 


coco BOLO 


they see. Where had they got to ? 

“I wonder,” said Frances, “if this isn't the place 
where Tommy — Tommy — what was his other 
name?” 

“Little Tom Titmouse,” replied her sister. “Per- 
haps it is. So let us sit down and wait. Perhaps, if 
we sit still and keep quiet, we may see King Coco 
Bolo and the Archbishop and — ^Are there such things 
as tame dragons, Frances?” she asked, suddenly re- 
membering with some misgivings that little Tom Tit- 
mouse, besides making the desirable acquaintance 
of King Coco Bolo and the Archbishop, had also 
encountered a dragon — which was quite another 
thing. 

“There must be,” replied Frances, reflectively. 
“Daddy told us to try to get to that place, and if the 
dragon hadn’t been a tame dragon he wouldn’t — ” 

“No, of course he wouldn’t,” interrupted Marga- 
ret, reassured. “So we’ll sit down and wait, and 
perhaps — Oh! Look!” pointing out over the shim- 
mering sea. “There are some new islands! One, 
two, three of them, besides the old ones. Look! 
Oh ! One of them has split in two ! Now there are 
four! Now there are five! What funny islands!” 

Sitting in the cool shade of the trees, the children 
watched the new islands come and go, grow large 

i6 


THE SHADOW-CHASERS 


and larger, break in two, vanish and come again. It 
was very fascinating and also very mysterious. How 
did they get there? Where had they come from? 
And why. Oh, why did they keep shifting about like 
that? Were they floating islands? It seemed likely, 
for Daddy had once told them something about 
floating islands with flower gardens on them, though 
where they were situated Margaret could not re- 
member. 

“I shouldn’t be a bit s’prised”— she began, when, 
turning to her sister, she noticed that an ant was 
running over the back of Frances’ hand. Knowing 
very well that Frances objected to the tickling of 
ants and spiders and such things, Margaret glanced 
quickly at her face, and then smiled a superior smile. 

“She’s so young,” said she, by way of explaining 
it. “She’s only six and a quarter. It isn’t as if she 
was nearly eight. I won’t disturb her. I’ll let her 
sleep just as long as she likes.” 

Observing that the yellow plush puppy was lying 
on his back with his feet in the air, she went on: 

“I may just as well lie down too while I’m waiting. 
I’ll put Periwinkle on this flat stone: he’ll make a 
very good pillow. Ah! How nice it is here under 
the trees. I wish the branches would keep still, 
though, so that the sunlight wouldn’t keep flicking 
*7 


coco BOLO 


into my eyes. I’ll put my hat over my face, and 
then — Yes, that’s better. Now, I’ll just shut my 
eyes and wait till Frances — ” 

*^Ting‘a4ing-a4ingr 

Margaret had not had her eyes shut one minute — 
no, not half a minute, she was sure — when she heard 
the sound of a little bell somewhere close by. She 
sat bolt upright and listened, while Periwinkle, who 
had been uncomplainingly serving her as a pillow, 
the valiant Periwinkle sprang up on his sausage legs 
and began to growl fiercely — as fiercely, that is to 
say, as was to be expected of a yellow plush puppy 
with a fixed red worsted smile. 

^^Ting-a-ling-a-ling r went the bell again. The 
sound seemed to come up from the edge of the wat- 
er at the foot of the cliff. Margaret jumped up, and 
followed by Periwinkle she stepped softly to the 
edge of the rocks and peeped over. 


i8 


CHAPTER II 


ADMIRAL BOXWOOD 

S TANDING on a flat shelf of rock which 
rose about six inches above the level of 
the water was a little man, who, from the 
cut of his clothes, was evidently a naval 
man. He looked so smart that Margaret made 
sure he must be an admiral at least, though instead 
of the blue cloth suit of an ordinary, every day ad- 
miral, this little man wore a bright green cocked hat 
with a long red tassel on the top of it; a gold-laced 
^wallow-tailed coat of cherry-colored silk; green- 
and-white striped knee breeches; white silk stock- 
ings; and white shoes with cherry-colored rosettes. 
Altogether he was very bright and pretty to look at. 

But the most remarkable thing about him was his 
size. 

“He’s just about as tall as Mother’s new, long- 
handled parasol,” thought Margaret. “And yet he 
isn’t a boy, for he has gray hair and gray whiskers. 
What red cheeks he has, too : they’re just as red as 
Edward’s new doll’s were before he washed them 

19 


coco BOLO 


in the bath-tub with the nail brush. I wonder why 
he keeps on ringing that bell. He must be waiting 
for somebody.” 

If he was waiting for somebody, he was not wor- 
rying himself much about it, for he was standing in 
a careless attitude with his feet crossed, and instead 
of looking out for the people to come, his eyes were 
fixed on a little silver bell which, holding it out at 
arm’s length between his finger and thumb, he kept 
tinkling and tinkling as though he had nothing else 
in the world to do ; all the time smiling away to him- 
self in the most cheerful and contented manner. 

Margaret took a step forward, when her shadow 
— that very same shadow she had been vainly pur- 
suing all morning — her shadow fell on the rock at 
the little man’s feet. He looked up, and instantly 
his whole manner changed. He stopped ringing his 
bell, and clapping his heels together he made a bow 
so low that the red tassel on his hat swept the ground. 

“If your Royal Highness is ready — ” he began, 
when Margaret interrupted him. 

“My— my what, did you say?” she asked. “I 
didn’t quite understand. My sister, do you mean? 
I’ll call her.” 

Turning to do so, she found that Frances, whom 
she had left asleep under the trees, was standing 
20 


ADMIRAL BOXWOOD 


close beside her holding her hand — and the curious 
thing about it was that she was not in the least sur- 
prised. 

“Isn’t he pretty I” whispered Frances. “What 
red cheeks he has I What was he saying to you? 
Let’s go down and talk to him. Shall we?” 

The two little girls, after hunting about for a bit, 
found an easy place to climb down, when they ad- 
vanced toward the little man, followed by Periwin- 
kle, who, being not quite easy in his mind, kept close 
at their heels, growling to himself all the time in an 
undertone. 

As they approached him, the Admiral greeted 
them with another low bow, lower even than the first 
one. In fact, he bowed so very low that his joints 
creaked and then stuck. Do what he would he 
could not straighten up again. 

“Oh, dear!” cried Margaret. “He’s caught 
somehow. Come and help me, Frances.” 

So saying, she picked up the little Admiral and 
held him close against her with both arms around 
his chest. In this position his feet stuck straight out 
in front of him, when Frances, taking hold of his 
ankles, pressed them down until he came straight 
again with a snap. 

“Your Royal Highnesses are most condescend- 
21 


coco BOLO 


ing,” said the polite little Admiral gratefully, bow- 
ing once more, though this time with greater caution. 
“The fact is,” he went on to explain, “I had the mis- 
fortune to fall into the sea yesterday and my joints 
became swollen in consequence.” 

“What!” cried Frances. “Does it make your 
joints swell if you — ?” 

But here the Admiral interrupted her. 

“I don’t wonder you are surprised,” said he, with 
a gratified smile. “I know it must seem strange to 
you to be told that even we. Hardwoods — ” 

“You are a Hardwood, then, are you?” asked 
Margaret in a polite tone of inquiry. For, while 
she did not understand what the little Admiral meant 
by calling himself a Hardwood, she did not wish to 
appear too inquisitive. 

“I have that honor,” replied the Admiral. “In 
fact, all the officers of the army and navy are Hard- 
woods, as well as all the members of the Court cir- 
cle, with the single exception of the Court Crier. He 
belongs to the Weeping Willow family. But as I 
was going to say,” he went on, “even a Hardwood 
will swell if he stays in the water nine hours, as I 
did.” 

“Nine hours!” cried Frances. “Why, we only 
stay in twenty minutes twice a week, when we have 
22 



Picked lip the little Admiral 





\ s 

> I 



» 


» 



• I 

[ ' 

' < I 

t 

I , 

S 



■ J 



' ' ' ^ 

‘ i { > \ 

1 



> 1 


\ 

I 



\ I 

f 


i 

I 1 ■ 

' < « 

I 

* r , 1 

t , 

/ 

\ 

i •* 


\ 




\ 


I 


i 

' I 



' I 


s . 


; 

I i' 

1 




j 


I 


k * 


» 


i 


4 






« 

i I 


» 


I 

^ I 


I 


1 




\ 


t 


t 


i 

v{ 

I 




I 



t 



» 


\ 



» 


« 


k 




J 



• f 

r- 


I 







* . • 


,f:': 


^ ^ 1 
I, \ 

i. ' ' < 

I 


' J 


' ' ^ , I / ■ . , i'.' . > ‘ J 

M ' ' • ' ’ 1 , < ^ 

. ' < . ' 1 ■, . 
* ‘ : I' I* * I . ' 




I « 


' i I 




4 f < • I . < 

■i‘ '■'■> '•' ,' 

' ^ . ■ 


» ^ . k ' 

* t ■ 4 r 

' ) 


» ' 1 

/ ' 


ADMIRAL BOXWOOD 

our swimming lesson. What did you stay in so 
long for?” 

“It was not intentional, I beg to assure you,” re- 
plied the Admiral. “Far from it. I fell into the 
sea, and as the tide was going out at the time I had 
to go with it; and when it did turn and washed me 
back again, I couldn’t find the island.” 

“The island! What island?” asked Frances. 

The little man cocked up his eyebrows in surprise 
at the question. 

“What island?” he repeated. “Why, the Floating 
Island, of course,” pointing over his shoulder with 
his thumb. 

“Oh I So you come from the Floating Islands, do 
you I” exclaimed Margaret. 

“Yes. You will have noticed, I dare say, how 
the islands keep coming and going and breaking in 
pieces and changing their shapes. Well, that is what 
they did yesterday, and every time I thought I was 
going to land I found that the island had moved 
away and I had to begin all over again.” 

“That was horrid,” remarked Frances. “Weren’t 
you afraid of being drowned?” 

At this question the little Admiral, in spite of his 
politeness, could not help laughing. 

“Drowned!” he cried. “We, Hardwoods, don’t 

25 


coco BOLO 


get drowned. Why, the Lord Chancellor was washed 
off the island once and floated about for three 
months. We all thought he was gone for good, but 
he turned up again one day none the worse except 
that his joints wouldn’t work for a couple of weeks 
and nearly all his paint had washed off.” 

“His paint!” cried Margaret, glancing at the little 
man’s red cheeks. “What is he made of, then?” 

“He is one of the Quartered-Oaks — written with 
a hyphen— a very good family, very hard and very 
serviceable; though — Ahem! — not quite of such 
quality as the Boxwoods.” 

He said this with such a self-conscious air that 
Margaret ventured a guess. 

“You are a—” 

The little man laid his right hand on his heart, 
stuck out his left elbow and bent his body at the 
hips. With his eyes half closed and with a beaming 
smile, he said: 

“Your Royal Highness has guessed right. I am 
of the Boxwoods.” 

“And the Boxwoods are harder than the Quar- 
tered Oaks, are they?” asked Margaret. 

By way of reply, the little Admiral picked up a 
pebble and tapped himself on the cheek with it. It 
sounded like clapping the backs of two hair-brushes 
26 


ADMIRAL BOXWOOD 


together. 

“Why!” exclaimed Frances. “You are as hard as 
— as hard as a door-knob I” 

The little man was evidently much pleased with 
the compliment. Becoming confidential, he stepped 
forward and said in a low tone : 

“Between ourselves, Ladies, the Boxwood family 
is the hardest on the island. Nobody disputes our 
position; we come next to the King, himself.” 

“The King!” cried both children, inquiringly. 

“His Majesty, King Coco Bolo,” replied the lit- 
tle Admiral, drawing himself up very straight and 
lifting his cocked hat as high as his short arm would 
permit. 

“But, bless my paint and spangles!” he cried. 
“What am I thinking of? Here have I been chatter- 
ing away, forgetting all the time what I came for.” 

So saying, he removed his cocked hat again and 
took out of the lining a large, square letter, which he 
handed to Margaret; and having done so, he retired 
a few steps, where he stood with his arms a-kimbo 
and his head on one side, smiling away at nothing. 
“Just as if he had been taking lessons in cheerfulness 
and was practising while he waited,” thought Fran- 
ces. 

The two children, with their heads close together, 
27 


coco BOLO 

each holding a corner of the envelope, spelt out the 
address. It read: 

“To Margaret and Frances. Courtesy of Ad- 
miral Boxwood.” 

“Then he is an Admiral,” whispered Margaret, 
peeping over the top of the envelope at the smiling 
little gentleman. “That’s why he wears a cocked 
hat and is so polite.” 

“What does it mean by saying, ‘Courtesy of Ad- 
miral Boxwood’?” asked Frances. “Do you think 
they made a mistake and meant to say ‘Courtesy to 
Admiral Boxwood’?” 

“Perhaps they did,” replied Margaret. “Any- 
how, it’s better to be too polite than not polite 
enough, so let’s courtesy to him.” 

Standing up side by side and holding out their 
frocks with both hands, the two little girls made 
their very best “cheeses” to the Admiral; upon 
which the Admiral took off his cocked hat with a 
flourish and bowed, until the squeaking of his joints 
warned him to straighten up again. 

“What is the letter about?” asked Margaret, 
turning it over and over. “Here’s a big ‘C. B. R.’ 
on the back, done in red letters with a gold crown 
over them. What does C. B. R. mean?” 

“Coco Bolo Rex,” replied the Admiral, adding: 
28 


ADMIRAL BOXWOOD 

“Rex, you know, means King.” 

“Oh, I see. Thank you. No, I didn’t know. But 
what is the King writing to us for?” 

“Perhaps your Royal Highness had better read 
the letter and see,” replied the Admiral — which 
really did seem like a very sensible suggestion. 

“I’m not very good at reading writing yet,” said 
Margaret, as she drew the letter from the envelope, 
“but — Oh ! It’s printed in capital letters. That’s eas- 
ier. It looks like a bill of fare. I’ll see if I can read 
it. 

‘COCO BOLO 

KING OF THE FLOATING ISLANDS 
PRESENTS HIS COMPLIMENTS 
TO 

MARGARET AND FRANCES 
AND 

REQUESTS THE PLEASURE OF THEIR 
COMPANY 

AT A GARDEN PARTY 
TO MEET 

HIS GRACE, THE ARCHBISHOP 
OF 

TIMBUCTOO-AND-A-HALF’ ” 

“Oh, what fun!” cried Frances, clapping her 
29 


coco BOLO 


hands and dancing about. “A garden party I How 
kind of the King to ask us ! Let’s go, Margaret.” 

“Yes, it’s very kind of the King; and I should like 
to go, of course,” replied her sister; “but how are 
we to get there?” 

“Nothing easier,” remarked the Admiral. “His 
Majesty is not one to do things by halves. He has 
sent the royal yacht for your accommodation.” 

He waved his hand toward the water, where the 
two little girls noticed for the first time that a boat 
was gently bobbing up and down upon the swell. 


30 


CHAPTER III 


THE ROYAL YACHT 

I T was a very pretty boat, evidently made of 
glass, for the children could see right through 
it; and though it had neither mast nor oars, 
it had, at any rate, a wheel, behind which 
was standing a little man dressed in a sailor’s suit of 
the same bright colors as the Admiral’s. 

“The Crew,” remarked that gentleman, nodding 
toward the new sailor-man, who, as soon as he saw 
that the little girls were looking at him, smiled in the 
most cordial manner and spun the wheel round so 
fast that the spokes hummed in the air. 

“If you are quite ready,” said the Admiral, rais- 
ing his hat, “we’ll get aboard;” and stepping down 
to the edge of the water he put his hands to his 
mouth and roared out at the very top of his voice: 
“Boat, ahoy!” Though, really, it seemed hardly 
necessary to shout so loud, as the boat was not more 
than four feet from the shore. 

“Perhaps the Crew is deaf,” suggested Frances, 
sagely. 


31 


coco BOLO 


Perhaps he was, but, if so, he was not so deaf but 
that he could hear what was shouted to him at four 
feet distance, for he at once touched his cap, spun 
the wheel round the other way, and leaving it spin- 
ning walked to the bow of the boat, where, leaning 
out over the water, he pulled up a little anchor. 

“Weigh the anchor!” shouted the Admiral. 

“Do you think it’s worth while?” suggested the 
Crew, politely touching his cap. “We’ve weighed 
it once this morning already — four pounds, six 
ounces.” 

“That’s true. Well, never mind, then. Pitch it 
ashore.” 

Thereupon, the Crew, holding the coil of rope 
in his left hand, swung the anchor round and round 
his head and threw it to the Admiral. 

Instead of catching it in his hands, or getting out 
of its way altogether, as most people would have 
done, and as the children of course thought he would 
do, the Admiral whipped off his cocked hat and bend- 
ing forward allowed the anchor to hit him crack on 
the top of his head. 

“Oh!” cried both little girls, running forward. 
“Did it hurt you very badly?” 

“Not at all, thank you,” replied the Admiral with 
a genial smile, as he stooped to pick up the anchor. 

32 


OTTO 

HOPP 



Allowed the anchor to hit him 



iV,;''.'- X', v,‘.‘ ‘ M '•' ' 1 ■ ; 'A . '•'■ .A ,, , 


,A, r. }■ . 

.* • ‘ VV ' 'v ' ' ' ■ A •'•' 


• i 


;v'.' ■ 




4 . I , 


I * 


V. '.V , .’ •. 


^ 4 « 4 ' ( 'I 

' k I * 


' r. • 


4' I' ' 

• > «.' ^ ! 
i . « I I « . 4 


I k * 


l4» * 


i \ 


I « 

* 


^i" ■ 

> » 'V ' . 


* M A 4 < 


\ A* •’ f ■ 
. #1 ' » » 


t. . 


r'/.' ,*/■ 

i » . • ' 


* > ' > 


I ' I 


) • i 

< A \ 


44 * 




^ ‘ \ 
' ; « 




, I > 


I 4 


4 i 


} 4 


I f 

• . 1 1 


■- < . 


. , ' »■ . 
11 .'. * ■ 


t , 


r 

,• • ^ 


4 

1 I 


‘ ( 


• ( 

) / 


4 


* 4 


I 

,'t 


« < t 
t . 




I 1 « 


V 


1 4 . 

/ 4* f 


f k 

^ I 

< 4 




( .» 


« I 
. » f 


I ^ .. V 


, I ' 4 

• • • $ 


A r ‘ 

]' r ■ 


' ; ' 

/ ' 
• • I ' 

t' ' ; :'i » 


r. A . 


/j 


. , / j r( 

4 ' ' » 

I 


1 , 




i 




- t 


4 ' ■ ^ ^ 


. 4 

I 


^ ! < .■■. 

*! f * i ‘ 

A , , , I 4 , , 1 ^ ^ ^ t 

^ . A ' * M 


1 t 

4 • 


'I ' 


) 4 


} . 


• , 4 . 




. N 


/ ^ 4 


'.V 


k f 




t. I , •> 'i 4 M ' 1. . [ \ .' •• .A 

,1 ;V /I .1 , 4 r » . 

i A I... '• sA( A'. , . ; ; , . . V . 


, •’ t 


• • ‘ 

I 


4 * 


K'i, i , 'V ■ * • ' • ‘ ''‘v, ' ■ ■ . ’•' 

fv, /‘A*, V •. • , 

7 I A*. • '* ' ^ 

' !\^ :iy .: ^ , ' r' . ■•! 


' 4 

t ' • I » 


•> ' 


• S % 


4 , '/ • / 


* k 

I i 


' ^ I 


4 ‘ . 


. \ 
4 






< 

J 1 


* \ 
/ 


\ . 
J 




t i , 

4 i 


J I 


I 1 ' 


i • 4 ' . ' , 

« I / ' . * / # . 

S 'i, . 1 


r , 


« J 


•;A7 '-'Av 5. 

1 7 - K' I I » *■! .*1 ., •,••/, . ' 1 ' •• * . 

■A,':-: ' '>■ Ar '!v -A' 






THE ROYAL YACHT 


“A little thing like that doesn’t hurt a Boxwood.” 

So saying, he began to pull upon the rope, drawing 
the boat close up to the shore, when he remarked : 

“Now, your Royal Highnesses, if you’ll step 
aboard we’ll start at once.” 

“Why do you keep on calling us ‘Royal High- 
nesses’?” asked Margaret; for neither she nor 
Frances had ever heard the title before and they 
did not know what it meant. 

“Oh, excuse me !” cried the Admiral, apologetical- 
ly. “I ought to have guessed it. Your Royal High- 
nesses prefer to travel incog?” 

“In what?” asked Margaret. “I thought we 
were to travel in the boat.” 

“Ha, ha !” laughed the Admiral, clapping his 
hands. “Very good ! Very good ! Wasn’t that good, 
Bo’sun ?” 

‘^A. I at Lloyd’s,” replied the Crew. “We must 
tell that to the King.” 

The children had not the least idea what the Ad- 
miral and the Crew were laughing about, nor what 
the Crew meant by saying “A. i at Lloyd’s,” but it 
was evident that Margaret had made a capital joke 
by accident, and so, trying to look as though they 
understood quite well, they smiled pleasantly at the 
two naval men and stepped upon the shelf of rock 
35 


coco BOLO 


beside which the boat was lying. 

Now that it was close up, the children were better 
able to see what the royal yacht was like. Appar- 
ently its frame work was made of the skeleton of a 
very big fish turned upside down, the fish’s backbone 
forming the keel, and its ribs the ribs of the boat. 
The whole had been coated over with glass, so that 
the little girls, standing above it and looking down 
into the boat, could see right through the bottom of 
it. They could see the seaweeds on the rocks below 
and the little fishes flipping about. 

The bottom of the boat, indeed, being transparent 
and therefore invisible, stepping into it looked so 
very much like stepping into the sea that for a mo- 
ment Margaret and Frances felt some little doubt 
about venturing. 

But seeing that the Crew in the stern was leaning 
out, holding to the rock with both hands, while the 
Admiral, having first laid aside his cocked hat, was 
most obligingly lying flat on his gold-laced waistcoat, 
holding the boat at its other end to steady it, they 
hesitated no longer, but first removing their sandals 
for fear their heels might crack the glass, they 
stepped in, taking their places side by side on the 
middle seat. 

“What nice soft cushions !” exclaimed Margaret. 

36 


THE ROYAL YACHT 


“And see I One of them is marked in the corner with 
an ‘F’ and the other with an ‘M’.” 

“ ‘F’ for Frances and ‘M’ for Margaret,’’ re- 
marked her sister, seating herself on her own cushion 
and placing her sandals in her lap. “Come on. Peri- 
winkle !” she cried, chirruping encouragingly to the 
yellow plush puppy. “Come on, then: don’t be 
afraid!’’ 

Periwinkle, however was not to be persuaded. 
Standing on the edge of the rock, looking down into 
the boat, he, too, could see the fishes passing beneath 
it, and not knowing that the boat had a glass bottom, 
he declined to jump into the water — as he supposed. 

Frances, therefore, reached out, and taking her 
pet by the back of his neck, she pulled him in and 
set him down at her feet. For a moment the puppy 
struggled to jump out again, when a big fish, passing 
just under his nose, diverted his attention. Forget- 
ting his fears. Periwinkle snapped at the fish, and, 
of course, banged his nose on the glass bottom of 
the boat, making himself sneeze with great gusto; 
after which, thinking that it was the fish that had 
banged him on the nose, he contented himself with 
barking at them when they glided under the boat. 
He was a very sensible puppy, considering that he 
only stuffed with excelsior. 

37 


was 


coco BOLO 


As soon as he saw that they were all comfortably 
settled, the Admiral jumped to his feet, clapped his 
cocked hat on his head, gathered up the rope, and 
tucking the anchor under his arm, he stepped into 
the bows. 

“Eight bells!” he roared. 

At this command, the Crew hastily felt in all his 
pockets and brought out a number of little bells, 
which he rang one after the other. 

“That’s only seven 1” cried the Admiral. “Where’s 
the other?” 

“You have it yourself,” replied the Crew. 

“Oh, yes. So I have. Excuse me,” said the Ad- 
miral, politely; and thereupon he took the eighth 
bell out of his pocket and rang that one, too. 

“Why do you ring eight bells?” asked Margaret. 

“I thought you’d like it,” was the Admiral’s unex- 
pected reply. 

“Oh! Yes. Thank you very much. I do,” said 
Margaret. 

“It’s very pretty,” added Frances. “Won’t you 
ring them again?” 

“I’m afraid we can’t” replied the Admiral, re- 
gretfully. “It’s against the rules of the navy. We 
only ring eight bells once a day at mid-day, or, on oc- 
casions like this, once extra for a treat, so — Ah! 

38 


THE ROYAL YACHT 


Happy thought! How’s the sun?” he shouted. 

“It’s shining away like one o’clock,” replied the 
Crew, touching his cap. 

^^Just like one o’clock?” inquired the Admiral in 
an insinuating tone. 

“Well,” replied the Crew, evidently anxious to 
accommodate, “it’s a good deal like twelve o’clock, 
too.” 

“Good!” cried the Admiral, clapping his hands. 
“A poor excuse is better than a poke in the eye with 
a sharp stick. We’ll ring ’em again. Eight bells!” 
he roared, so loudly that it made his eyes water. 

So the Admiral and the Crew rang eight bells all 
over again, after which the Admiral threw his bell 
to the Crew, who very cleverly caught it and stuffed 
it into his pocket, and having gathered up the other 
seven bells and put them into his pockets, too, he 
laid his hands on the spokes of the wheel and waited 
for further orders. 

“How’s her head?” cried the Admiral. 

“North, south, east, west,” replied the Crew, with 
all the smartness of a man-o’-war’s man. 

“Good !” shouted the Admiral. “Cast off !” 

Not knowing what “Cast off” might mean, the 
two little girls turned their heads to see what the 
Crew was going to do. As far as they could per- 
39 


coco BOLO 


ceive, however, “Cast off” did not mean anything at 
all, for the Crew never moved, but stood there smil- 
ing away over the top of the wheel as though he were 
waiting to be photographed. 

“Why did you say, ‘Cast off’?” inquired Margaret 
of the Admiral. “What does it mean?” 

“It means, untie the ship,” replied the Admiral. 

“But the ship is untied,” Margaret objected. 

“I know. It’s just a matter of form. Now, if 
you are quite ready, we’ll start at once.” 

“Quite ready, thank you,” replied both little girls, 
eagerly; for there seemed to be so many forms and 
ceremonies that they began to fear they might be 
late for the garden party. 

“Starboard I” shouted the Admiral. 

Whereupon the Crew gave the wheel a spang with 
his right hand which sent it spinning at a great rate, 
at the same time glancing out of the corners of his 
eyes at the two passengers to see what they thought 
of his cleverness. 

“Good!” cried Margaret and Frances, clapping 
their hands; at which the Crew, beaming with pleas- 
ure, touched his cap and bowed. In doing so, how- 
ever, he forgot the wheel, and one of the spokes hit 
him such a crack on the right side of his nose that 
the wheel stopped spinning. 

40 


THE ROYAL YACHT 

“Oh!” cried both children. “That must have 
hurt!” 

“Not at all, thank your Ladyships,” replied the 
Crew, smiling away just as cheerfully as ever. 

“What a brave little sailor-man you are,” said 
Frances, admiringly. “Most people would have 
wanted to cry after getting such a knock.” 

“Excuse me. Ladies,” the Admiral here inter- 
sposed, very politely. “Pray excuse me, but it is 
against the rules of the navy to speak to the man at 
the wheel.” 

“Oh, is it?” replied Margaret and Frances. 
“We’re sorry. We didn’t know that.” 

“Don’t mention it,” said the Admiral, pleasantly. 
“It’s of no consequence.” And turning to the Crew, 
he asked: “It didn’t break your nose, did it? Be- 
cause you had better mend it at once if it did. The 
glue is in the medicine chest.” 

“It’s all right, sir, thank you,” replied the Crew, 
tapping his nose with his knuckles. “Only dented. 
No harm done.” 

“Very well; then we’ll proceed. Starboard!” he 
shouted once more. 

“You said ‘Starboard’ last time,” remonstrated 
the Crew, touching his cap. 

“Oh, yes. So I did. Thank you. Let me see: 

41 


coco BOLO 


what comes next? Oh, yes. Port!” 

The Crew, who was only waiting for the word, 
spun the wheel the other way; such a spin that the 
spokes hummed like the piping of a mosquito. 

“Fine spin!” cried Margaret, enthusiastically, 
clapping her hands again. 

“Yes. How fast it goes!” said Frances. “You 
can’t even see the spokes.” 

Hearing this remark, the Crew, delighted with the 
compliment, smiled immensely, and stooping down 
with his hands on his knees he peeped through the 
wheel at them. 

“Peek-a-boo!” cried Frances, quite forgetting the 
rules of the navy. 

For though the Crew was presumably a grown up 
sailor-man, he was so small and so neat and so 
bright-colored and so merry-looking that it was quite 
impossible to take him seriously. 

At this moment the boat started. 


42 


CHAPTER IV 


THE king’s hounds 

T he boat started so suddenly that the 
Crew, stooping to peep through the 
wheel, was taken by surprise and lost 
his balance. Down he sat upon the 
deck, his heels went up into the air, and he would 
certainly have gone over backwards into the water 
had it not been for Frances, who, very quickly and 
very cleverly hooked the handle of her parasol in 
one leg of his trousers and tilted him back to a sitting 
position. 

“Thank you. Miss,” said the Crew, touching his 
cap. 

“Very much obliged,” remarked the Admiral. “It 
might have spoilt his complexion to have fallen into 
the water.” 

“You are very welcome,” said Frances, cordially. 
“But why did the boat start so suddenly? What 
made it start?” 

“I did,” replied the Admiral. 

“You did? How?” 


43 


coco BOLO 


“I’ll show you,” said the Admiral, evidently much 
pleased by the interest the little girls took in the 
working of the yacht. “Look!” 

He was seated in the front end of the boat in one 
of those whirligig office chairs which grow taller and 
taller if you wind them one way and shorter and 
shorter if you wind them the other. When he said, 
“Look,” he gave a kick off with his left foot, round 
spun the chair and stopped. Immediately the boat 
began to slow down. 

“See?” asked the Admiral. 

“Yes, I see,” replied Margaret, who happened to 
be the one to catch his eye. “I see, but I don’t under- 
stand. The boat has no sail and it has no oars and 
it has no engine: what is the — the — ?” 

“What makes it go?” asked Frances. 

“What is the motive power, you were going to 
say, weren’t you?” asked the Admiral. “Ha, ha!” 
he cried, rubbing his hands. “You’d never guess. 
Never. Look here!” jumping out of his chair and 
patting the cushion — a very fat air-cushion blown 
up extremely tight. “This contains the motive pow- 
er. All you have to do is to sit on the cushion, give 
a twist to the chair, and away you go.” 

“I see,” said Margaret again. “Very simple. But 
what is the motive power? Gasoline?” 

44 



OTTO 

HOPP 















His heels went up in the air 


w 


( 

I 


1 

» 

! 

i 

I 


I 

I 


THE KING’S HOUNDS 


“Oh, dear, no!” cried the Admiral, holding up 
his hands as though horrified at the suggestion. 
“Nothing so barbarous as gasoline. Unpleasant 
smells and unnecessary noises are not allowed on 
the Floating Islands. The cushion is filled with 
snap-dragon’s breath.” 

“Snap-dragon’s breath!” cried both little girls, 
sitting up very straight and opening their eyes very 
widely. 

“Yes; the King’s pet snap-dragon. He blows up 
the cushion for us every morning.” 

“So there is a dragon on the island, then, is 
there?” 

“Lobsterneck, the Great American Snap-Dragon,” 
replied the Admiral, proudly, making himself as tall 
as he possibly could and puffing out his cheeks so 
tightly that his whiskers stood on end. 

So Daddy was right, and there was a dragon after 
all! Margaret and Frances could not help feeling 
just a little bit uneasy at the thought, for though 
they felt sure the dragon would be a tame one, still, 
a dragon was a dragon — there was no getting over 
that fact. 

But the Admiral, seeing them look so serious, 
hastened to relieve their minds. 

“Your Royal Hi — Your Ladyships, I mean,” he 

47 


coco BOLO 


corrected himself, “need not be in the least alarmed: 
the King’s dragon is not at all like the common, low- 
class dragons you are accustomed to.” 

“But we aren’t — ” Margaret began, when the Ad- 
miral stopped her with a polite wave of his hand. 

“I know,” said he. “I quite understand. You 
were going to say you are not accustomed to associ- 
ate with dragons at all. Very natural. The average 
dragon, I am aware, is a rude and boisterous crea- 
ture. But Lobsterneck! Well, Lobsterneck is not 
an average dragon. In the first place he is a snap- 
dragon; and in the second place he is the most amia- 
ble and considerate snap-dragon you ever met. He 
lives by himself in a round tower on the top of 
Dragon hill, and he never thinks of taking a walk 
without first putting boxing gloves on all six of his 
claws for fear he should accidentally step on some- 
body and scratch their paint off. And then he is such 
friends with the children! As soon as he appears 
they all run and scramble upon his back. You’ll see 
a dozen of them perched up there at once sometimes, 
all in a row, like swallows on a telegraph wire, and a 
dozen more running behind, begging for a ride.” 

“What a nice dragon!” exclaimed Margaret. 
“And is he polite to strangers?” 

“Always,” replied the Admiral. 

48 


THE KING’S HOUNDS 


“And — and to puppies?” asked Frances, leaning 
forward to stroke Periwinkle’s head. 

“Always,” replied the Admiral once more. 

“Well, then,” said Frances, “let us start at once. 
We should be so sorry if we were late; and we are 
not at all afraid of the dragon any more, are we, 
Margaret?” 

“Not the least,” replied her sister. “So, let’s start 
again at once.” 

“Very good,” said the Admiral; and with that he 
jumped into his chair again and gave a push off with 
his right foot. Round spun the chair with the Ad- 
miral in it, and away went the boat, skipping over 
the tops of the waves, as a boy can make a flat stone 
skip across a pond — and a girl can’t. 

“How beautifully it goes !” cried Margaret. “It’s 
almost like flying. What is the boat’s name? Has it 
any name?” 

“Certainly,” replied the Admiral. “The name is 
painted on the bows. You can see it yourself through 
the glass.” 

“Oh, yes ! So I can ! I wonder if I can read it. ‘M, 
A,—’ Why! The letters are all turned the wrong 
way! What is that for?” 

“That is because they are painted on the other 
side of the glass. You are looking at the backs of 
49 


coco BOLO 

the letters. Begin at the other end, and then you 
will see.” 

T, H, E,* The,” began Margaret. “ T, L, E, 
A, — ’ It’s too hard for me. What does it spell?” 

“ ‘The Pleasant Dream’,” replied the Admiral. 
“Good name, isn’t it?” 

“Very good,” Margaret agreed. “Because it is 
almost like a boat in a dream, the way it skips from 
one wave to the next.” 

In fact, the boat went so fast and made such a 
breeze that Margaret could not keep her hat on. 
She therefore placed it in her lap and tied her hand- 
kerchief over her head instead. As she cocked her 
chin sideways to tie the knot, she happened to catch 
sight of the Crew out of the corner of her eye. To 
her surprise he was sitting cross-legged on the deck 
behind the wheel, a little looking-glass in his hand 
and the medicine chest before him, busily repairing 
the dent in his nose with some putty. 

“Why don’t you — ?” she began; but remembering 
that it was against the rules of the navy to speak to 
the man at the wheel, she turned to the Admiral in- 
stead, and said : 

“Why doesn’t he attend to the steering?” 

“He’s busy just now,” replied the Admiral, “but 
he will directly. And, anyhow,” he added, “it 

50 


THE KING’S HOUNDS 

doesn’t make much difference: there isn’t any rud- 
der.” 

“No rudder!” cried Margaret in astonishment; 
for she had always understood that the rudder was 
the most important part of a ship. 

“No. But that is not of the least consequence : I 
know the way.” 

The children did not know very much about boats, 
but it certainly did seem a queer way of managing 
things. Nevertheless, though the Admiral, riding 
backwards, never turned his head to see which way 
they were going, and though the Crew, having put- 
tied up the dent in his nose, was now so busy with a 
paint-brush, painting the patch to match the rest of 
his complexion, that he never looked up. The Pleas- 
ant Dream continued on its course as straight as an 
arrow, skimming the waves like a seagull. So the 
children, concluding it was all right, settled them- 
selves comfortably on their cushions, prepared to en- 
joy their outing. 

If the boat seemed to fly, so did the time. Neither 
of the children owned a watch, so they could not tell 
how long they had been going, but it seemed to them 
not more than ten minutes ere the Floating Island 
began to loom up big before them. It was a peculiar- 
looking island— a very peculiar-looking island. At 

51 


coco BOLO 


first sight it looked like an enormous, square, frosted 
sponge-cake floating on the water, its sides as high as 
a house and as straight up-and-down as a wall. Then, 
as they drew nearer, it appeared to the children to 
be like an immense block of sea-foam with as many 
colors in it as a soap-bubble. It was not till they 
had come pretty close to it that they made out at last 
what it really was : — a thick and solid bank of cloud, 
all pink and white and shining. 

They had come within little more than a quarter 
of a mile of it, when the cloud-wall suddenly split in 
two from top to bottom — only for one second, for 
the narrow crack closed up again directly. But in 
that brief time the children caught a glimpse of 
what appeared to be a most beautiful floating flower- 
garden. 

“Just as if a bit of a rainbow had tumbled into the 
sea,” was Frances’ comment. 

But they caught sight of something else as well; 
something far more curious than any flower-garden. 

In the middle of the island was a rather high hill; 
on top of the hill was a fat round tower; and on top 
of the tower, seated on a three-legged stool, combing 
his whiskers with his claws, sat some huge, strange 
creature, unlike anything they had ever seen before. 

“What’s that?” whispered Frances; for the Ad- 
52 


THE KING’S HOUNDS 

miral was dozing and she did not want to disturb 
him. 

Before Margaret could reply, the creature, what- 
ever it was, caught sight of them, when, just as the 
crack in the cloud-wall closed up again, it rose up on 
its hind feet, and putting its fore-paws to its mouth 
it bellowed like a cow. 

“The whistling buoy I’’ cried Margaret. “I’ve 
heard it before.” 

“Excuse me. Miss,” whispered a voice behind 
them ; and looking back, they saw that the Crew was 
peeping at them over the top of the wheel. “Excuse 
me. Ladies,” said he, “but you are mistaken. That 
was the King’s dragon.” 

“The King’s dragon!” 

“Yes, Miss: the King’s pet snap-dragon. He sits 
up there on his tower to keep watch, and when he 
sees anyone coming he bellows like that to give no- 
tice.” 

“Are you sure?” asked Margaret. 

“Oh, yes. Miss. Quite sure.” 

“Well,” said Margaret, “I’m very glad to know 
that. I’ve often heard the sound from the shore, 
and somebody told me it was the whistling buoy. 
Now I shall know next time. There he goes again 1” 

At this second bellow the Admiral woke up with a 
S3 


coco BOLO 


start. He cast a glance over his shoulder, and see- 
ing how near they had come, he spun his chair round 
till it would go no further, when the boat immediate- 
ly began to slacken speed. 

It was still going pretty fast, however, and the 
cloud-wall looked so solid that Margaret and Fran- 
ces could not help feeling just a little bit anxious lest 
the glass boat should be cracked when it ran against 
it; which it was evidently going to do, for it kept 
straight on its course. 

But as the Admiral and the Crew were perfectly 
calm about it, they felt reassured, and presently the 
frail boat ran into the wall without a shock or a tre- 
mor. It just made a hole which closed up behind it 
— and there they were, unable to see out in any direc- 
tion. 

At the same moment there arose all round them, 
in front and behind and on both sides, a perfect 
clamor of barking, as though a hundred dogs were 
all barking at once and all trying to see which could 
bark the loudest and the fastest. 

“Why! Where are they all?” cried Margaret, 
looking vainly about in every direction. “It sounds 
as though they were in the water.” 

“They are,” replied the Admiral, smiling at her 
wonder. “They always bark like this when they 
54 


THE KING’S HOUNDS 


hear the dragon bellow.” 

“But I don’t understand,” said Margaret. “Dogs 
don’t live in the sea.” 

“These dogs do.” 

“Why! What kind of dogs are they?” 

“They are sea-dogs,” replied the Admiral. “The 
King’s own pack of hounds. The Royal Dog-fish.” 

“Oh!” cried Frances, laughing. “I see. So they 
are fish after all, and not dogs.” 

“But,” remarked Margaret, “if they are fish, how 
can they bark? I never heard of fishes barking; not 
even dog-fishes.” 

“They don’t as a rule,” replied the Admiral; “but 
these have been trained for the purpose. Just as 
soon as ever they cut their first teeth their diet is 
most carefully regulated with the special object of 
cultivating their voices.” 

“What are they fed on, then?” asked Margaret. 
“Dog biscuit?” 

“No. Bark,” replied the Admiral. “The bark 
of the dog-wood.” 

“Oh! Of course !” cried both the children. “We 
might have guessed that.” 

At this moment the boat ran through the cloud- 
wall and now the children could see what sort of a 
place the Floating Island really was. 

55 


CHAPTER V 


THE COURT CRIER 

T hey found themselves in a beautiful lit- 
tle bay of a bright green color, fringed 
all round with neat little, curly, white 
waves, all exactly four inches high and 
ten feet apart. “Like rows of tucks round the bot- 
tom of a dress,” thought Frances. 

But the island itself was what most attracted their 
attention. It was like a Japanese garden, with lit- 
tle green hills and little red footpaths bordered with 
white shells; with little lakes and little streams and 
little bridges; it was dotted all about with little 
houses painted all sorts of bright colors; and there 
were flowers — flowers everywhere. It was the pret- 
tiest place they had ever seen. 

From all directions were little people running 
down to the pier to meet them; the excited dragon 
was jumping about on top of his tower, bellowing 
like a whole herd of milk cows at once; while all the 
dog-fish, with their noses sticking out of the water, 
came swarming from every direction, barking away 


THE COURT CRIER 


— to the great alarm of Periwinkle — as loudly as 
they could, and making such a racket that Margaret 
and Frances were obliged to put their fingers into 
their ears for fear of being deafened. 

Seeing this, the Admiral jumped out of his chair, 
waved his arms, and shouted out, “King’s guests I 
King’s guests!” Whereupon, all those polite and 
well-trained dog-fish leaped out of the water, and 
standing on their heads, wagged their tails in wel- 
come, sending into the air showers of spray which 
the bright sun turned into dozens and dozens of little 
rainbows. It was the prettiest thing you ever saw. 
The little girls were delighted. 

By this time the speed of the boat had very much 
slackened, it was just gliding along with hardly a rip- 
ple toward the little wooden pier, painted white with 
red posts, where the bright-colored little people 
were standing in groups waiting for them. There 
were groups of little men and groups of little women 
and groups of little children, some of them dressed 
in pink and some in green and some in yellow and 
some in orange and some in white and some in pur- 
ple — but not a single one in blue, as Frances was the 
first to notice. 

“Do you see, Margaret?” she whispered. “There 
isn’t one of them dressed in blue. Not one I” 

57 


coco BOLO 

“So there isn’t’’ replied her sister. “I wonder 
why.” 

But before she could ask why, the Admiral 
jumped into the bow of the boat, took off his cocked 
hat, and waving it above his head, called out again, 
“King’s guests I King’s guests!” Upon which all 
the little people in little shrill voices shouted “Wel- 
come to the King’s guests !” and waved their pocket 
handkerchiefs. It was just as though a flock of 
pigeons had suddenly flown up out of a flower-bed. 

At the same moment the children saw coming 
down the road a little carriage drawn by two pretty 
little horses of the color of a new horse-chestnut, 
with white manes, cut short, and with stiff little white 
tails like bottle-brushes. The coachman, who sat up 
very straight and stuck out his elbows with an air 
of great importance, was dressed in a fuzzy white 
wig with a three-cornered hat on top of it, a green 
coat with gold buttons, white knee-breeches and rose- 
colored stockings. Altogether, he looked very 
smart indeed, and very well pleased with himself, 
too, to judge by the way he smiled as he drew up his 
chubby little horses at the far end of the pier. 

For that matter, though, everybody was smiling 
away in a manner so cheerful that the children 
thought they had never seen such a merry-looking 

58 


THE COURT CRIER 


lot of people, and as smiles are just as catching as 
whooping cough, Margaret and Frances could not 
help smiling too; whereupon all the people on the 
pier smiled twice as much as before and clapped 
their hands for joy. 

“What nice people!” exclaimed Margaret. 

“Yes. Aren’t you glad we came?” responded her 
sister. “And such ^ pretty place, too; and — I won- 
der who the old gentleman is, coming down to the 
steps.” 

In fact, as the boat slowly glided up to the steps 
at the end of the pier, an old gentleman came for- 
ward and took up his position on the top step; all the 
rest of the people standing back at a respectful dis- 
tance, forming a half-circle behind him. He was a 
tall old gentleman — for a Floating Islander — with 
a head perfectly bald except for a fringe of white 
hair at the back extending from one ear to the other; 
wearing a long green cloak with silver willow leaves 
embroidered round the collar. In one hand he car- 
ried a large copper bell, like a cow-bell, and in the 
other a sheet of parchment with a big red seal hang- 
ing to it. 

“The Court Crier,” explained the Admiral, whis- 
pering behind his hand; and as he said it, the boat 
stopped of its own accord at the bottom step. 

59 


coco BOLO 


As if the stopping of the boat had been the mo- 
ment he, was waiting for, the Court Crier began vig- 
orously ringing his bell; whereupon all the people 
ceased clapping their hands and stood quiet to hear 
what the Court Crier might have to say. Even the 
dragon up on his tower — as the little girls noticed — 
sat down again on his three-legged stool, and folding 
two pairs of claws across his stomach, cocked his 
ears forward to listen. 

“Oh, yes! Oh, yes!” called the Court Crier, and 
after a short pause, finding that nobody cried, “Oh, 
no!” he hung his bell about his neck, unfolded his 
parchment, and having first bowed deferentially to 
the two little girls — who, all this time were sitting 
in the boat, wondering what was to happen next — he 
called out: 

“Proclamation by the King! ‘To Margaret and 
Frances, Greeting: Coco Bolo, King of the Floating 
Islands, extends his hearty welcome to Margaret and 
Frances and begs they will regard as their own his 
Island, his People, his Dragon and Himself!’ ” 

Having finished his reading, the Court Crier 
folded up his parchment and put it into his pocket, 
and then, taking. the bell from his neck, he rang it 
once more. Upon this, all the little people clapped 
their hands again, the dog-fish barked and the 
6o 


THE COURT CRIER 


dragon bellowed; at which Margaret and Frances 
were very glad, for it gave them time to think of a 
proper reply. 

Rising to their feet, and standing side by side in 
the boat, the two little girls bowed to the Court 
Crier and the people behind him, when the Court 
Crier held up his bell, upside-down, above his head, 
as a sign for all sounds to cease. 

Though neither of them had ever attempted to 
make a speech in their lives, nor had even thought 
of doing such a thing, the two children, for some rea- 
son, did not find themselves at all abashed at having 
to stand up and deliver a formal reply to the King’s 
proclamation. Perhaps it was that the little people 
on the pier were so much smaller than themselves; 
perhaps it was that their brightness and cheerfulness 
and seeming readiness to be pleased gave the chil- 
dren confidence; but whatever the cause, as soon as 
the people had ceased clapping their hands and the 
dog-fish had ceased barking, and as soon as the pup- 
py-fish — which had been larking about according to 
the nature of all puppies, growling and splashing and 
biting each others’ tails — as soon as they had been 
slapped by their elders and told to keep quiet, Mar- 
garet made another polite bow, and said: 

“Thank you, Mr. Court Crier. We are very much 
6l 


coco BOLO 


obliged to you; and we are very much obliged to 
Coco Bolo Rex for inviting us to come, and we are 
quite sure we shall enjoy ourselves.” 

“And,” added Frances, “we never saw such a pret- 
ty place or such nice, smiling people before.” 

These speeches evidently pleased the people very 
much, for they all clapped their hands once more; 
and while they were doing so, the Admiral and the 
Crew, jumping out of the boat, offered their hands 
to Margaret and Frances to help them ashore. 

No sooner had they set foot on the bottom step 
than there came running out of the crowd two pret- 
ty little boys, one carrying a great bunch of violets 
and the other a bunch of daffodils. The violets were 
evidently intended for Margaret and the daffodils 
for Frances, but unfortunately, just as he reached 
the top step, Margaret’s little boy caught his toe and 
down he fell, all down the steps, making a great clat- 
ter, and into the water he would certainly have 
rolled had not Margaret caught him, when, putting 
her foot on the next step above, she set him upon 
her knee. 

“Oh, you poor little boy!” she exclaimed. “You 
did hurt yourself, didn’t you?” 

“Don’t cry. Dearie,” said Frances, bending over 
him with her handkerchief in her hand, all ready to 
62 


THE COURT CRIER 


dry his tears. She made sure he would cry tre- 
mendously; for what little boy would not after fall- 
ing down twelve steps and knocking his knees and 
his nose and his elbows on every single one of them? 

But this little boy, greatly to their surprise, did not 
make a sound. He puckered up his face, indeed, as 
though he would very much like to cry, but he did 
not. Instead of that, he looked hard at the Court 
Crier, as though he expected him to do something, 
though what the little boy could possibly expect of 
a thin, dried up, bald headed old gentleman like the 
Court Crier, the two children could not imagine. 

The little boy, though, evidently knew what he 
was about. 

“Where’s my caddy?” shouted the Court Crier in 
a great hurry; whereupon there ran out of the crowd 
another little boy with a number on his hat, who car- 
ried hung around his neck with a pink ribbon, a little 
oblong box, like an old-fashioned tea-caddy, divided 
into two compartments. 

Lifting the lid of this box, the Court Crier took 
out of the left hand compartment a large, clean pock- 
et handkerchief, and then — ! Down he plumped on 
the top step and began crying floods of tears, bawling 
and snuffling and making a great to do. If he had 
tumbled down a flight of fifty marble steps himself 

63 


coco BOLO 


he could not have made more fuss about it. 

Margaret and Frances were standing with their 
eyes wide open, wondering what was the meaning 
of it, when the Admiral, seeing how puzzled they 
were, stepped up to them and whispered : 

“He’s the Court Crier, you know.” 

“Yes, I know,” replied Margaret. “But what 
has that to do with it?” 

“What has that to do with it!” repeated the Ad- 
miral, astonished in his turn. “Why, everything. 
What do you suppose a Court Crier is for?” 

“I don’t know,” replied Margaret. “What is 
he for?” 

“Why, to cry, of course, when anybody gets hurt.” 

“What!” exclaimed Frances. “Do you mean to 
say that people are not allowed to cry for them- 
selves?” 

The Admiral shook his head. “Never,” said he. 
“It couldn’t be allowed on any account. It is the 
special privilege of the Court Crier to do all the 
crying. The office has been held by his family for 
ages. He is one of the Weeping Willows, you know, 
as I told you.” 

The children were still wondering at this very 
funny arrangement, when they noticed that the Court 
Crier every now and then moved his handkerchief 
64 



OTTO 

HOPP 



Dozvn he plumped on the 
top step 







i 


i 




j 



THE COURT CRIER 


to one side and peeped with one eye at the little boy 
on Margaret’s knee, as if to see how he was getting 
on. 

Observing this, Margaret also peeped at him, 
when she noticed that the little boy, who at first had 
been screwing up his face into all sorts of shapes, 
was gradually growing more and more composed, 
until presently he burst out smiling again, and scram- 
bling down from Margaret’s knee, he turned round 
and handed to her the bunch of violets, just as 
though nothing had happened. 

Instantly, the Court Crier jumped to his feet, 
wrung half a pint of tears out of his handkerchief, 
and rolling it up into a ball, he opened the lid of his 
caddy-box and flung the handkerchief into the other 
compartment. 

“Pardon the interruption. Ladies,” said he. “We 
will now proceed.” 

At this, the Admiral and the Crew presented their 
hands to the two little girls and led them up the 
steps, when, the moment they set foot on the pier, 
all the little people ran and arranged themselves in 
two rows on either side of a long green carpet with 
red borders which stretched all the way to the other 
end; a band on shore struck up a merry tune; the 
Court Crier, drawing himself up as tall as he could, 
67 


coco BOLO 


called out, “Form the procession!” and everyone at 
once fell into his proper place. 

First of all marched the two little boys; then the 
Court Crier; then Periwinkle; then Margaret and 
Frances, hand in hand; and after them the Admiral 
and the Crew; the people, all clapping their hands 
to keep time to the music, falling in behind as they 
passed, so that ere they had reached the other end of 
the pier the procession was quite a long one. 

“It’s just as if we were princesses,” remarked 
Margaret. 

“Yes. Isn’t it fun!” cried Frances; and looking 
at the rows of smiling little people, the two children 
could not help laughing and kissing their hands to 
them, as they had heard was the custom of prin- 
cesses. 

Whether it was the custom of princesses or not, 
it was plainly the right thing to do here, for the 
people all began to sing and dance, holding hands, 
while the band played louder than ever, and the two 
round, fat little horses in the carriage stood on their 
hind legs and waved their front feet in the air as if 
to welcome the King’s guests. 

As soon as the procession reached the end of the 
pier, the Court Crier opened the carriage door, 
when Margaret and Frances got in and away they 
68 


THE COURT CRIER 


went, still in procession: all the children running in 
front, scattering flowers on the road; then the Court 
Crier, ringing his bell; then the band; then the Ad- 
miral and the Crew, arm in arm; then the carriage; 
and then the people all dancing in pairs. 

Pretty soon the children saw before them a beau- 
tiful little palace, built of pink and white coral in 
alternate layers, with battlements and towers and 
balconies and terraces and a big, arched front gate 
like a church doorway. On either side of the en- 
trance-gate sat a line of sentinels on chestnut horses, 
six on each side, their brass helmets glittering in the 
sun, their chests stuck out and their backs very 
straight, trying their best to look fierce and warlike. 

In this, however, they were not very successful, 
for though their moustaches stood out as stiff as 
gimlets, their faces looked so cheerful that Marga- 
ret and Frances felt sure their fierceness was all put 
on for appearance-sake. 

“We can easily find out,” said Frances. “Let’s 
kiss our hands to them, and see if they don’t smile.” 

“Very well,” replied her sister. “I expect that 
is what a princess would do, anyhow. I know I 
should if I were a princess. So let’s do it.” 

It was a most successful move. The soldiers all 
broke into smiles of the largest size and waved their 
69 


coco BOLO 


swords in the air; their steeds stood up on their 
hind feet and danced round and round like perform- 
ing dogs ; and thus passing between the two lines of 
capering horses, the carriage rolled through the 
gateway into the palace courtyard, the band and the 
people remaining outside and only the Court Crier 
and the Admiral accompanying the King’s guests to 
the foot of the palace steps. 


70 


CHAPTER VI 


REFRESHMENTS 

A S soon as the carriage stopped, the Court 
Crier opened the door and he and the 
Admiral handed out the two little 
girls. At the same moment there came 
running down the steps two rosy-cheeked young wo- 
men in caps and aprons, white cuffs and turn-down 
collars, like trained nurses, who courtesied very nice- 
ly and said: 

‘‘If you will please to come with us. Ladies, we 
will show you to the refreshment room.” 

Walking up the steps behind the two little maids, 
Margaret and Frances were shown into a large, 
pleasant room, furnished in green and white, with 
sofas and rocking chairs and everything they could 
want. Looking about them, the first thing they no- 
ticed was a card tacked on the inside of the door, 
such as they remembered to have seen once in a hotel 
bedroom, and supposing it to be the rules of the pal- 
ace, they thought they had better read it. It was 
not the rules of the palace, but it was something 

71 


coco BOLO 


just as important, as Margaret soon discovered, 
when, pulling forward a chair, she sat down to read 
it — for the card, being put there for the accommo- 
dation of small people like the Floating Islanders, 
was rather low down on the door. 

“What does it say?” asked Frances. “Can you 
read it?” 

“Oh, yes,” replied her sister. “This is what it 
says,” — pointing out each word with her finger as 
she read it: 

“ ‘Laws of the Floating Islands. 

(i) Be Cheerful. 

(2) Be Polite. 

Anyone Disobeying These Laws 
Will Be 

Put In The Corner 
And 

Painted Blue.’ ” 

“Oh I So thafs why nobody dresses in blue !” cried 
Frances. “I thought there must be some reason.” 

“Yes; and what a good thing it was we wore our 
pink dresses and flowered hair-ribbons today. Well, 
it is easy enough to learn these laws : — ‘Be cheerful. 
Be polite’. I know them already. What is this up 
here?” 


72 


REFRESHMENTS 


All down one side of the doorway were a number 
of electric buttons, marked, ‘Ice-cream’, ‘Cookies’, 
‘Candy’, ‘Oranges’, ‘Bananas’, and so forth, and at 
the bottom, showing how thoughtful the King was, 
‘Pepsin.’ 

“I suppose,” said Frances, “if you want any of 
these things you just press the button. Do you think 
Mother would let us have a cooky. I’m rather hun- 
gry-” 

“I’m sure she would,” replied her elder sister. 
“And I should like something to drink, too. Seel 
Here are the things to drink on the other door post : 
‘Lemonade’, ‘Sherbet’, and a lot of other things. 
What should we ask for? Lemonade?” 

“Lemonade is good,” remarked Frances. “What 
else is there?” 

“Here’s ‘Aerated water’,” Margaret spelled out. 
“Would you like that?” 

“No,” replied Frances. “That’s that fizzy stuff. 
I like it, but it tickles my nose so. I don’t think I 
want that. What’s next?” 

“ ‘Plain water’,” read Margaret. 

“Oh, no. We can get plain water at home.” 

“ ‘Aero-plane water’ ” read Margaret. “I won- 
der what that is.” 

“I expect it’s not so plain as plain water, and not 

73 


coco BOLO 


so fizzy as fizzy water,” replied Frances. “I think 
I should like to try it. Suppose you ask for a lemon- 
ade and I’ll ask for an aero-plane water, and then we 
can divide.” 

“Very well. Then I’ll press these two buttons 
and you press the one marked ‘Cookies.’ ” 

They pressed the buttons accordingly, when, al- 
most in no time, it seemed, they heard something go 
snick, and turning in that direction they saw that a 
little cupboard door in the wall had flown open. In- 
side the cupboard was a tray with a plate of cookies 
upon it and two glasses, one, a big glass of lemonade 
with two straws in it, and the other, a smaller glass 
containing what appeared to be plain water with six 
round, fat bubbles floating about in it. On the edge 
of this glass, hanging by a little hook, was a pair of 
small tweezers. 

“Why! What are they for?” exclaimed Frances, 
as she unhooked them and laid them on the tray. 
“What did they send us tweezers for?” 

“I’m sure I don’t know,” replied her sister. “Per- 
haps we shall find out presently. Bring the tray over 
here, Frances, and put it on this little table. Ah! 
This lemonade is good ! What does your aero-plane 
water taste like?” 

“Why, it doesn’t taste like anything,” replied 

74 


REFRESHMENTS 


Frances, in a tone of some disappointment. “It’s 
just plain water. They must have forgotten the 
‘aero’ part !” 

“Perhaps the bubbles are the ‘aero’ part,” sug- 
gested Margaret. 

“Oh, perhaps they are. I’ll drink one.” 

But try as she might, she could not catch one of 
them. Every time she touched one with her lips it 
bobbed away — the bubbles were so large and so 
round and so slippery. 

“The tweezers !” cried Margaret. 

“Oh! Of course!” exclaimed Frances. “That’s 
what the tweezers are for!” 

Undoubtedly it was, for, with the help of the 
tweezers, Frances very soon caught a bubble and 
popped it into her mouth. 

Margaret, watching her, saw her eyes sparkle and 
a look of pleased surprise come over her face. 

“That tastes, does it?” she asked. 

For half a minute Frances did not reply; all she 
said was, “M-m-m,” keeping her lips shut tight as 
though to let none of the taste escape ; but presently 
she opened her mouth and said : 

“Yes, that tastes. It’s the very nicest thing I ever 
did taste: like — let me see — like pine-apple and 
strawberry jam and — and — I can’t think what else. 
75 


coco BOLO 


Wait till I try another. There are five left. I’ll 
take two more and leave the rest for you.” 

So saying, she caught two more bubbles and then 
passed over the glass to Margaret, who, in turn, 
passed over the half-finished lemonade to her sister. 
As she did so, she saw an odd expression come over 
Frances’ face. 

“What’s the matter?” she asked. 

“I don’t know,” replied Frances. “I don’t think 
there’s anything the matter, but I have such a funny 
feeling — ^just as if I didn’t weigh anything. I feel as 
if I wanted to get up and fly.” 

“Try, then,” suggested Margaret. “Perhaps you 
can if you try. Try.” 

Frances, rather gingerly, got out of her chair, 
gave a flap with her arms and a little stamp with 
both feet, and up to the ceiling she went like a feath- 
er. It was a high ceiling, but she went up far 
enough to touch it with her fingers, when she began 
gently floating down again, her dress standing out 
all around like a pink umbrella. She looked so 
comical, with her elbows tucked into her sides and 
her fingers spread out, her lips puckered up and her 
eyebrows raised, that Margaret could not help laugh- 
ing. 

“Oh, what fun I” she cried, seizing the tweezers 

76 



Began gently floating down 
again 



I 




\ . 


REFRESHMENTS 


and the glass of aero-plane water. “I’m coming too. 
Can you wait there, Frances?” 

“No, I can’t,” replied her sister, who was now 
down about the level of the tops of the pictures. 
“I’m coming down all the time. And if I were you, 
Margaret,” she added hastily, “I’d only take two of 
those bubbles — or one. I’m rather too light. It’s 
a good thing I didn’t take all six of them or I might 
have gone straight up to the ceiling and had to stay 
there, crawling about like a fly. I wonder if — hand 
me the lemonade, will you ?” 

Margaret dragged a chair to the spot, jumped up- 
on it and handed up the half-glass of lemonade to 
her sister. Frances, however, did not take the glass 
in her hand; she took the straws, and leaning for- 
ward, tried to drink the lemonade. But though Mar- 
garet stood on tip-toe and reached up as far as she 
could, Frances was still about four inches too high, 
so she waited a minute until she had come down a 
little further when she tried again. This time she 
succeeded, finding, as she had expected, that at every 
swallow she came down more and more quickly, un- 
til presently her feet touched the floor again, when, 
as she was still rather bouncy, she took hold of the 
edge of the table to steady herself, and said: 

“I’ll tell you what you’d better do, Margaret; 

79 


coco BOLO 


Take only one of those bubbles at a time and see if 
it isn’t enough. I’m a good deal too light; I shall 
have to put some stones in my pocket, or something. 
I’m afraid, if I were to go out of doors, the wind 
might blow me into the sea. So just take one first, 
Margaret, and see how that does.” 

This seemed like good advice, so Margaret, tak- 
ing the tweezers, caught one bubble and ate it up. 

“M-m-m,” she murmured, just as Frances had 
done. “That is good. There’s preserved ginger in 
it, too, and I think there’s just a taste of baked ap- 
ples. Oh! Isn’t it a funny feeling!” — stretching out 
her arms and dancing about — “I wonder if I could 
jump up to the ceiling like you did.” 

But she found she could not; though to jump over 
a big settee in the middle of the room was the easiest 
thing possible. 

“Oh, how nice it is to be so light-footed!” she 
cried. “One bubble is just enough, Frances; that 
was a good idea of yours. But what are we going 
to do to make you a bit heavier? There are no stones 
here to put into your pockets ; and you have only one 
pocket, anyhow. You’d be all lopsided. You’ll 
have to eat something. That’s the only way I see.” 

“Yes,” responded Frances, “that’s the only way; 
and what we need is something heavy, like that little 
8o 


REFRESHMENTS 


loaf of bread you and I made once for Daddy, don’t 
you remember, and he begged to be excused, be- 
cause home-made bread sometimes gave him the 
nightmare, and so we gave it to Kim — that time he 
howled so in the night, and Daddy had to get up 
and throw his hair-brush at him.” 

“Yes, I remember,” replied her sister. “That’s 
the sort of thing we want. Let’s look at the list 
here and see if there’s anything likely to do. Ah I 
‘Pound cake’ ! That ought to be just the thing.” 

“Pound cake is rather rich, isn’t it?” asked 
Frances. 

“Pm afraid it is. Well, here’s ‘Half-pound cake, 
for infants and invalids.’ The very thing. We’ll 
have that.” 

She touched the button; open flew the cupboard, 
and there inside it was a neat little cake with a silver 
knife to cut it. 

“Now,” said Margaret, cutting a slice and hand- 
ing it to her sister. “Eat that and see if it will do.” 

Still holding to the table for fear she should bob 
up again to the ceiling unexpectedly, Frances ate 
about half the slice, when she laid down the rest, re- 
marking: 

“I think that’s enough, Margaret. I don’t feel 
quite so much like a dandelion seed as I did. Take 
8i 


coco BOLO 

my hand and let us skip down the room and back, 
just to try.” 

Down the room they skipped, hand in hand, and 
back again, jumping over the settee on the way and 
coming lightly down on the carpet, “Like a pair of 
soap-bubbles,” as Frances put it. 

“Just exactly,” Margaret agreed. “I feel like 
you feel in a dream sometimes, when you just tap 
your foot on the floor or your fingers on the backs 
of the chairs and go floating about the room. How 
glad I am you asked for aero-plane water, Frances, 
or we might never — Come ini” 

Somebody had tapped at the door, and on Mar- 
garet’s calling, “Come in,” the two little maids ap- 
peared once more, courtesying politely, to inquire if 
the ladies were ready to put on their wreaths and 
slippers. 

“Wreaths!” cried Margaret. 

“Slippers!” cried Frances. “We didn’t bring any 
wreaths and slippers.” 

At this, one of the little maids, whose name, they 
found, was Anita, smiled and nodded, and going to a 
cupboard in the wall which the children had not no- 
ticed before, she came back with two cardboard 
boxes, one of which she handed to each little girl. 

“Are we to open them?” asked Margaret. 

82 


REFRESHMENTS 


“If you please, Miss,” replied Anita. 

Each box proved to contain a beautiful wreath 
made of enameled pink leaves with silver berries — 
both exactly alike. 

“Oh! Aren’t they pretty!” exclaimed Frances. 
“Are we to wear them?” 

“Yes, Miss, if you please,” replied the little wait- 
ing-maid. “All the court ladies wear wreaths and 
slippers to match. These are your slippers,” run- 
ning to the cupboard and bringing back two pairs of 
white satin slippers with big pink rosettes on them. 
“The King hopes you’ll like them.” 

“The King is very kind,” replied Margaret. “Yes, 
these will do beautifully.” 

“Then, if Your Ladyships are ready, will you 
please to follow us?” 

So saying, Anita threw open the door, when she 
and the other little maid, taking hands, went skip- 
ping off down a wide hallway, Margaret and Fran- 
ces skipping after them and poor little Periwinkle 
with a serious countenance galloping behind, until 
they arrived at the top of a long flight of steps down 
which they went, six steps at a time, to find the Ad- 
miral and the Court Crier waiting for them. 

“Quite ready. Ladies?” asked the Admiral. “Then 
we’ll join the garden-party at once.” 

83 


CHAPTER VII 


coco BOLO REX 

T his way, please,” said their guide, wav- 
ing his hand toward a pair of big glass 
doors, on each of which was painted a 
monogram— C. B. R.— with a crown 

above it. 

The two little maids pulled open the doors, and 
Margaret and Frances walking through, found them- 
selves looking down upon a beautiful lawn with lots 
of little marble-topped tables scattered about it, at 
which sat numbers of bright-colored little people, 
drinking tea and eating ice-cream and lady-fingers. 

Across the middle of the lawn ran a white path- 
way, at the far end of which was a steep, green bank, 
forming a sort of raised platform. On this plat- 
form, with two little page-boys behind him holding 
up his scarlet cloak, was a fat little, red-cheeked gen- 
tleman with a spiky gold crown on his head, walking 
to and fro, and every now and then stopping to 
scoop up bubbles with a silver milk-strainer from a 
fountain of aero-plane water. 

84 


coco BOLO REX 


“The King,” whispered the Admiral; and then, 
putting his hands to his mouth, he shouted: 

“King’s Guests I” 

At this, all the ladies and gentlemen jumped out 
of their chairs, and turning to Margaret and Frances 
made a low bow, while the King, himself, thrusting 
his milk-strainer into his pocket, ran and leaped from 
the green bank, the two little boys who had hold of 
his cloak flying out behind like the tail of a kite. 

Up the garden ran the King, the two pages still 
flying out behind, until he had come to where the 
children stood, when he stopped, straightened his 
crown, and after casting a glance over his shoulder 
to see if the pages had recovered their feet, he ad- 
vanced with both hands stretched out to welcome 
his guests. 

“Delighted to see you. Ladies,” said he, shaking 
hands with both of them at once. “Most kind of 
you to come. What can I offer you by way of re- 
freshment? Here is everything you can think of; and 
if there’s anything you can’t think of, you have only 
to express a wish for it and I’ll order it at once.” 

“Thank you very much,” replied Margaret, “but 
we’ve had refreshment already.” 

“And we’re much obliged for the wreaths and slip- 
pers,” added Frances. 


85 


coco BOLO 


“Not at all,” responded the King. “Most con- 
descending of you to wear them. Do the slippers 
fit?” 

“Perfectly, thank you.” 

“All right, then,” unhooking his scarlet cloak and 
dropping it upon the ground. “Come on, if you’re 
ready. Race you to the other end!” 

Away went the fat little King as hard as he could 
run, all down the center pathway, and having such a 
good start he would certainly have won had it not 
been for the aero-plane bubbles the children had 
swallowed. As it was, they took such immense steps 
that they caught the King just as he reached the 
platform, on top of which they all jumped in a row 
and flung themselves down on a three-seated throne, 
like a high-backed church pew, except that it was 
decorated with gold knobs and had a crown over the 
middle seat. 

“Good!” cried the King, clapping his hands. 
“Everybody won ! Distribute the prizes !” 

At this, all the court ladies and gentlemen came 
running, the ladies in their wreaths and satin slip- 
pers skipping in pairs, weaving their way among the 
chairs and tables, while the gentlemen, with great 
agility, leap-frogged over the tops of the tables, all 
among the cups and saucers, without upsetting one of 
86 


coco BOLO REX 


them. They all jumped upon the platform and 
ranged themselves about the throne, clapping their 
hands with delight when the Court Crier advanced 
and deposited in the King’s lap a wooden box tied 
with white ribbon. 

Having cut the ribbon, the King looked all over 
the box for a keyhole, but could not find one; nor 
could he pry open the box with his pocket-knife. It 
was very tantalizing. 

He was bending over the box, looking for some 
way of opening it, when Frances noticed a little knob 
at the back, and thinking that perhaps it might be a 
spring, she leaned forward and pressed it with her 
finger. She had guessed right. It was a spring; for 
the box-lid instantly flew up, hitting the King such a 
crack under his nose that it made him sneeze. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” exclaimed Frances, clasping 
her hands. 

“Not at all,” replied His Majesty, very gracious- 
ly, as he rubbed his nose with the back of his hand; 
and then, slapping down the lid again, he suddenly 
burst out laughing. 

“Ha I Ha 1” he cried, kicking up his feet. “Here’s 
a game! Come here. Admiral! Just come here and 
smell this box! Any gentleman who can tell by the 
smell what is inside the box shall be allowed to fast- 

87 


coco BOLO 


en up his stockings with brass-headed tacks.’’ 

All the gentlemen-courtiers crowded round at 
once, eager to compete for the honor, when the Ad- 
miral, who had the first turn, stooped over the box 
to smell it. This was the moment the King was wait- 
ing for. He pressed the spring and whack came the 
lid under the Admiral’s nose, causing him to jump 
into the air and turn a back-somersault right over 
the heads of the courtiers — a pretty good jump for 
an admiral, especially with one hand on his nose. 

Margaret and Frances of course supposed that 
the courtiers, seeing what had happened to the Ad- 
miral, would decline to smell the box. But, not a bit 
of it: they did not take warning at all. They all 
came crowding round, elbowing each other for the 
next turn, and one after another they stooped to 
smell the box; one after another they received a 
crack on the nose ; and one after another they jumped 
backwards — the fat ones about ten feet and the thin 
ones a foot or two further — and there they all stood 
in a group holding their noses and gazing fixedly at 
the Court Crier. 

“Caddy! Caddy!” shouted the Court Crier. 

Where he came from the children did not observe, 
but in an instant there was the caddy, box and all. 
The Court Crier immediately opened the caddy-box, 
88 


coco BOLO REX 

took out a clean handkerchief and clapped it over 
his face. 

“Boo-hoo!” he cried, just once, and then peeped 
round the edge of the handkerchief to see if that 
was enough. Apparently, it was not quite enough, 
for he covered his eyes again and boo-hooed once 
more, when, perceiving that the Admiral and the 
courtiers had all let go their noses again and were 
smiling away as usual, he threw the handkerchief in- 
to the box, and holding out the skirts of his long 
cloak with a finger and thumb of each hand, he went 
skipping round in a circle, the bell about his neck 
going clink-clank at every step. 

“Good!” cried the King, clapping his hands. 
“Jump for joy!” 

Thereupon all the courtiers took hands and 
jumped up and down and back and forth, coming so 
close up to, the throne that Margaret and Frances 
and the King had to tuck up their feet for fear of 
having their toes trodden on. 

“Oh, bother!” exclaimed His Majesty. “I wish 
they wouldn’t crowd so” ; and so saying, he jumped 
up into the seat of his throne and shouted as loud 
as he possibly could: 

“DINNER!” 

At this, the whole company of courtiers, gentle- 

89 


coco BOLO 


men and ladies as well, turned their backs on the 
throne, and led by the Court Crier, they leaped off 
the platform, raced up the center pathway and 
rushed, pell-mell, through the glass doors at the oth- 
er end; when the Admiral, who had followed close 
behind, slammed the doors and locked them. Hav- 
ing done so, the Admiral came smiling back again, 
twirling the key on his finger. 

“What’s that for?’’ asked Margaret. “Do you 
always lock the doors for dinner?” 

“There isn’t any dinner,” replied the King, slyly 
screwing up one eye. “It’s just a trick of mine to 
get rid of them whenever they crowd too much.” 

“Do you do it often, then?” asked Margaret. 

“Oh, yes. Two or three times a day sometimes.” 

“But, don’t they ever learn?” cried Frances in 
surprise. “I shouldn’t have thought you could have 
played the same trick on them more than once — or 
twice.” 

“Learn I” cried the King. “They never learn! 
They are the most wooden-headed lot you ever saw. 
It isn’t all fun, being a king,” taking off his crown 
and hanging it over one of the knobs on the back of 
the throne, “not even a monarch of the Woods — 
especially the Hardwoods. They are such block- 
heads 1” 


90 


coco BOLO REX 


The jovial little King looked almost melancholy, 
which, of course, was against the laws of the Island, 
but he recovered again in a moment when the Admir- 
al tactfully poked him in the ribs with the door-key 
and cried, “Cheer up, Rex I” 

“Ha! Hal” laughed the King. “No tickling! 
Come along. Ladies. Let’s go and see the dragon. 
We’ll take the children with us.” 

“Oh, yes. Do!” cried Margaret, feeling that if 
the children went, too, it must be perfectly safe. 
“How many children are there?” 

“Six, I think,” replied the King. “It is six isn’t 
it. Admiral?” 

“I believe it is,” assented the Admiral. “Though 
I’m not quite sure whether the carpenter has finished 
the last one yet.” 

“The carpenter!” cried both little girls, opening 
their eyes very wide. 

“Certainly,” replied the Admiral. “You didn’t 
suppose it was a job for the blacksmith, did you? But 
it’s a long piece of work, even though the last chip 
was the smallest of the lot. Coco bolo is such tough 
stuff, you know, and of course the carpenter has to be 
extra particular in turning out a Prince.” 

“Oh, so the little Princes are all made of coco 
bolo, too, are they?” asked Margaret. 

91 


coco BOLO 


“Why, of course, they are,” replied the King, 
rather surprised at the question. “Chips from the 
old block, you know. There were six chips left after 
I was finished, and the carpenter has been at work 
on them ever since; though whether he has com- 
pleted the last one yet, I don’t know. However, 
we’ll soon see.” 

As he said this, the King popped his fingers into 
his mouth and blew a shrill whistle. Immediately a 
door in the palace flew open and out came six plump 
duchesses, with Roman noses and two corkscrew 
curls apiece, dressed to look like nurses in mob caps 
and big white aprons, walking one behind the other 
and each carrying a covered basket on her arm. 

“Turn ’em out!” shouted the King; whereupon the 
six plump duchesses turned their six baskets upside 
down and out fell six little boys, dressed like Floating 
Island sailor-men, in cherry-colored blouses and 
green and white striped bloomers. Some of them 
fell on their backs and some on their heads and some 
on their noses and knees, but it seemed to make no 
difference : they all jumped up at once and came run- 
ning to where Margaret and Frances and Coco Bolo 
Rex sat on the three-seated throne waiting for them 
— skipping and frolicking and playing leap-frog and 
cutting all sorts of capers. 

92 


coco BOLO REX 


“They’ve just been dosed,” explained the King. 
“That’s what makes them so frisky. 

“Dosed !” cried Margaret. “I didn’t suppose dos- 
ing ever made anyone frisky. What do you dose 
them with ?” 

“Caper sauce,” replied the King. “Jolly little 
chips, aren’t they?” 

“They certainly are,” cried Frances; and jumping 
down from her seat, she ran forward and caught 
up the youngest, intending to give him a good toss. 
She found him so heavy, however, that she changed 
her mind. 

“Why! What a weight he is!” she exclaimed. 
“He’s only about half as tall as I am, but I believe 
he weighs as much.” 

“He’s made of heavy stuff,” explained the King. 
“But we’ll soon mend that. Come along. Chips, and 
I’ll give you a treat.” 

Marching over to the aero-plane fountain, the 
King drew the milk-strainer from his pocket, and 
while the little Princes all stood in a row with their 
mouths wide open, like young fly-catchers, he fished 
out half-a-dozen bubbles and with the tip of his fin- 
ger flipped one down each throat in turn. 

“Now,” said he to Frances. “Try him again. 
You’ll find him a good deal lighter.” 

93 


coco BOLO 


He was; the difference was surprising — very sur- 
prising indeed to Frances. For, not expecting him 
to be so light all of a sudden, she tossed the little 
Prince into the air, when, instead of coming down 
again, he flew out of her hands; the wind got into 
his blouse and his bloomers, puffing them out like bal- 
loons, and away he went, floating along about ten 
feet from the ground. 


94 


CHAPTER VIII 


LOBSTERNECK 

“ ^ ATCH him I” shouted the King; “Catch 

M him!” shouted the Admiral; “Catch 

1 him!” cried Margaret and Frances 
and the five little Princes ; and all 
nine of them set off running as fast as they 
could, jumping like a flock of grasshoppers, try- 
ing to grasp the infant Prince by his ankles; while 
the infant Prince, himself, went sailing along back- 
wards, laughing with glee and waving his hands to 
the company below, evidently enjoying himself im- 
mensely. 

Where he might have blown to there is no telling, 
had it not been for Margaret. As she ran past the 
throne she espied the King’s crown still hanging to 
one of the gold knobs. Snatching it down, she raced 
after the others, and coming under the little Prince, 
she called out, “Here, Princy, boy! Catch this!” — 
at the same time throwing up the crown to him. 

The effect was rather unexpected. The youngster 
missed the catch, but luckily Margaret had made 
95 


coco BOLO 


such a good cast that the crown pitched over his 
head and settled down upon his shoulders, like a 
horse-collar. The little Prince instantly grasped it 
tight with both hands, when, being overweighted, he 
turned heels up and came floating down head-first to 
where nine pairs of hands were waiting to catch him. 

“Well done!” cried His Majesty. “Very well 
done! Now — ” 

He stopped, and, holding up one finger, cocked his 
ears, when the two little girls, listening too, heard 
the clink-clank of the Court Crier’s bell approaching. 

“Oh, bother!” exclaimed the King. “They’ve got 
out. That’s the way they always do. They sit down 
at the table and wait for dinner, and after a bit they 
forget what they are waiting for and they all get up 
and come out by the other door. They’ll be coming 
round the corner in a minute. Let’s run!” 

Away he went, Margaret and Frances and the 
Admiral, each holding two of the little Princes by 
the hand, running after him, over the hill behind the 
throne and down the other side, when the first thing 
they came to was a sort of wood-shed containing a 
number of logs, each of which had a ticket tacked on 
it, marked, “One,” “Two,” “Three,” and so forth. 

“Oh, so this is where you keep your firewood, is 
it?” remarked Margaret to the Admiral. 

9^ 



Turned heels up and came 
floating down head first ) 



1 


I 


i 

\ 


/ 


i 

i 

i 




LOBSTERNECK 


“Firewood!” cried the Admiral, aghast. “Dear 
me, no ! These are all family trees. Firewood 1 Tut I 
Tut! Tm glad the king didn’t hear you.” 

“So am I,” said Margaret. “It was a dreadful 
mistake, and I wouldn’t hurt his feelings for any- 
thing. What are all the logs numbered for?” 

“So that the carpenter can tell which is which. 
See here!” 

So saying, the Admiral reached down from a nail 
a big book, the leaves of which were made of slabs 
of wood, like shingles. 

“This,” said he, “ is the log-book, and you see each 
family tree is recorded on a different page. Number 
one : the Oak family; number two : the Maples ; num- 
ber three: Lignum-Vitae — very aristocratic family, 
that; number four: my own family, the Boxwoods; 
and so on.” 

“I see. What a good idea ! I suppose that is the 
carpenter over there, talking to the King: the little 
man in pink overalls and a paper cap, scratching his 
ear with a chisel.” 

“That’s the carpenter. He seems to be rather 
puzzled about something. Let us go and see what 
he’s making.” 

They found the King and the carpenter bending 
over a short log of wood, roughly chiseled into the 
99 


coco BOLO 


form of a man, which lay on a pair of trestles be- 
tween them. Both of them looked so serious that 
the little girls could not help thinking there must be 
something wrong. 

“What is it, Rex?” asked the Admiral. “Any- 
thing the matter?” 

“Matter!” cried His Majesty. “I should think 
there was. We’re regularly up a stump. What kind 
of wood do you suppose this is?” — touching the log 
with his foot. 

“I’m sure I don’t know,” replied the Admiral. 
“What is it? Mahogany?” 

“No. I wish it were. That would be simple 
enough. It’s Blue Gum!” 

“Phew!” whistled the Admiral. And then he and 
the King and the carpenter all took hold of their 
chins with one'hand, stuck out their lower lips, and 
gazed in perplexity at the log of wood lying on the 
trestles. 

Evidently it was a serious matter, for even the lit- 
tle Coco Bolos stuck out their lower lips in imitation 
of their elders, though why it was a serious matter 
Margaret and Frances could not understand. Mar- 
garet was just going to ask, when the King turned 
round and said: 

“It’s because it’s Blue Gum, you see. Any other 
100 


LOBSTERNECK 


color would have been all right — but Blue! The one 
color we’ve always avoided.” 

“Most unlucky,” remarked the Admiral. “How 
did it get here?” 

“Floated ashore yesterday,” replied the carpenter. 

“You see,” continued the King, “it is against the 
law here for anyone to look blue — and what we are 
going to do with this log of Blue Gum I can’t think.” 

“Couldn’t you make a policeman?” suggested 
Frances. 

“Grand idea !” cried the King, clapping his hands. 
“Just the thing! Thank you ever so much. We’ll 
have a blue policeman to chase away the ‘blues’, just 
as we have a Court Crier to do the crying. What a 
happy thought! Then, if anyone does forget to be 
cheerful and polite it shall be the policeman’s duty 
to catch him and paint him blue, of course.” 

“He won’t have much to do at that rate,” re- 
marked the Admiral, “for nobody has ever been 
painted blue yet. You’ll have to give him something 
else to do to fill up his time, or he’ll be coming down 
with the ‘blues’ himself.” 

“You might give him a butterfly net,” suggested 
Margaret, “and set him to chasing blue-bottles for 
practice.” 

“That’s a good idea, too,” responded the King. 
lOI 


coco BOLO 


“So that’s what we’ll do. Make a policeman, Car- 
penter, and, if you can, make one that will keep 
awake. Do you think that’s possible.” 

“Oh, yes,” replied the carpenter. “I can fix him. 
I’ll give him a hollow tooth, so that he can’t breathe 
through his mouth without getting the toothache, and 
I’ll make his skin so tight that he won’t be able to 
shut his eyes without opening his mouth. See?” 

“Very good idea,” said the King. “So, pitch in. 
Carpenter, and get him done as soon as you can. 
Hark I There’s that bell again I Come on I Run I Or 
they’ll find us yet.” 

Away they all went again, round the corner of the 
wood-shed and up the hill where stood the dragon’s 
tower — a round, fat tower with one arched doorway 
and no window. The dragon, himself, was not visi- 
ble, until, walking round to the other side of the tow- 
er, they espied the end of his tail hanging over the 
edge between two of the battlements. 

“He’s taking his afternoon nap,” remarked the 
King. “Hi ! You mouldy old reptile !” he called out. 
“Wake up! Here are two young ladies come to call 
on you I” 

At this, the long, scaly tail slowly withdrew, and 
in its place presently appeared the dragon’s head, 
looking down at them. Thinking that he might feel 
102 


LOBSTERNECK 


irritable at being thus awakened from his nap, Mar- 
garet and Frances carefully got behind the King, 
while Periwinkle got behind them, but they felt re- 
assured in a moment when they saw what a jolly old 
dragon he was; for his little eyes twinkled and his 
smile was of most genial proportions. 

“How do. Ladies?” said the dragon, cordially. 
“Very glad to see you. I would have come down 
earlier to pay my respects, only it was just the time 
for my music lesson, so I couldn’t well get away.” 

“No, of course not,” assented Margaret, who was 
taking lessons on the piano herself and knew how it 
was. “So you take music lessons, do you? What 
on?” 

“On purpose,” replied the dragon. “Lessons in 
singing, with big drum and cymbals accompaniment.” 

“That sounds difficult,” remarked Frances. 
“Won’t you sing us something, Mr. Snap-Dragon?” 

“Yes, do I” cried Margaret. 

“Come on down Six-foot,” said the King, encour- 
agingly. “You needn’t be bashful. Come down and 
show your paces.” 

“All right,” said the dragon. “Anything to 
oblige.” 

So saying, he withdrew his head, the children could 
hear his scales going dish-clash as he slid down the 
103 


coco BOLO 


stairs, and presently he came oozing out of the 
arched doorway — there seemed to be no end to him. 

As he was the first dragon they had ever seen, the 
two little girls, of course, gazed upon him with great 
interest. He had a long body and a long tail and a 
long neck which he could draw in or stretch out like 
a telescope, just as he pleased; he had six feet, on 
each of which he was wearing his best, white-kid, 
company boxing-gloves; and his back was shingled 
all over with copper-colored scales, two of which, 
placed just beneath his shoulder-blades, were about 
the size and shape of stove-lids. These two big scales 
appeared to work on hinges, like the lid of a box, the 
reason for which arrangement the children could not 
at first understand. 

“Now, Lobsterneck, old boy!” said the King. 
“Clear your pipes and get to work.” 

“Very well,” replied the dragon. “What would 
you like first?” 

“Give us a fantasia on the drum and cymbals — 
just to show the ladies how you do it.” 

At this, the obliging old snap-dragon sat up 
straight, with his tail curled round his hind feet, 
when, with his middle pair of fists he hit himself sev- 
eral hard thumps on his chest, producing a sound like 
the beating of a big drum. At the same time, every 

104 


LOBSTERNECK 


thump on his chest caused the “stove-lid” scales on 
his back to fly up on their hinges and come down 
again with a clash, making altogether a pretty good 
imitation of the drum and cymbals. 

“Goodl” cried Frances, clapping her hands. “Isn’t 
that clever!” 

“Isn’t it 1” responded Margaret. “Did it take you 
a very long time to learn, Mr. Snap-Dragon?” 

“A longish time,” replied the dragon, with a side- 
ways wag of his head. “The drum part is easy 
enough, of course, but I’ve had to spend hours and 
hours practising my scales.” 

“I should think so,” said Margaret, feelingly. 
“Scales on the piano are difficult enough, but scales 
on your back must be much worse. Now, won’t you 
please sing us a song?” 

“With pleasure,” replied the dragon. “What 
sort of a song would you like?” 

“Sing something suitable to the occasion,” said 
the King. “Something about a garden-party, and 
put Margaret in.” 

“Oh, yes, do!” cried both the little girls. “Can 
you ? That would be nice !” 

“Anything to oblige,” said the dragon once more; 
adding, with a modest cough behind his boxing- 
glove, “I’ll sing you a little song to a tune of my own 
105 


coco BOLO 


decomposing.” 

With that he unfolded a sheet of music, and hold- 
ing it in his front paws, prepared to sing. 


io6 



With that he unfolded a sheet 
of music and prepared to sing 



\ 


I 




I 


L Ki 


CHAPTER IX 


THE SNAP-DRAGON SINGS 

W HILE the dragon was fidgeting about, 
arranging and re-arranging his tail — 
just like a young lady with her skirts 
— Margaret slipped behind him to 
look at the music. It was the queerest music she had 
ever seen, for it consisted of one big, black semi- 
breve, after which was written, ‘‘Ad lib.” — the same 
as saying, “Go as you please.” On top of the sheet 
was written : 


“Margaret’s Tea Party. 

To the tune of Michael Roy. 

Decomposed by 
Lobsterneck, 

The Great American Snap-Dragon.” 

What a decomposed tune might be, Margaret did 
not know, though, as soon as the dragon began to 
sing, she saw what a simple matter it was; she felt 
sure she could decompose one herself. All you had 
109 


coco BOLO 


to do, apparently, was to sing the right notes if you 
could remember them and to fill in with notes of 
your own when you couldn’t. 

By this time Lobsterneck had arranged his tail to 
his liking, so Margaret ran back and took her place 
with the others in front of him, when the dragon, 
with a preliminary shake to loosen his scales, began 
to sing: 

“One day when Margaret went out 
To walk upon the hill. 

She saw a lovely purple duck 
Who had a yellow bill. 

Said Marg’ret to the purple duck, 

‘If you’ll come home with me, 

I’ll give you beans and buttered toast 
And sugar in your tea’.” 

“Chorus!” shouted the dragon; when everybody, 
notwithstanding the fact that they had never heard 
the chorus before, pitched in and sang: 

“For, Oh! For, Oh! 

We’re out for a regular spree, 

And you shall have anything else you like 

If only you’ll come to tea.” 

no 


THE SNAP-DRAGON SINGS 


This chorus they sang after each pair of verses, 
the rest of which were as follows : 

“ ‘I’ll come,’ the purple duck replied. 

And flapped one little wing. 

And wagged her tail, she was so glad. 

And tried her best to sing. 

But that was more than she could do. 

And so she merely said, 

‘Quack, quack I’ and wagged her tail again. 

And jumped about instead. 

Then Marg’ret said, ‘Suppose we go 
And see what we can find.’ 

So up the hill she walked again. 

The purple duck behind. 

They looked behind the stones and trees. 

They looked behind the wall. 

And there they found a sky-blue crane. 

And he was very tall. 

Said Marg’ret to the sky-blue crane, 

‘If you’ll come home with me. 

I’ll give you macaroni soup 
And apples with your tea.’ 

Ill 


coco BOLO 


‘Ha, ha I’ the sky-blue crane replied, 
And that was all he said. 

But on the wall he quickly jumped 
And stood upon his head. 

And next they saw a chicken house. 

And Marg’ret looked inside. 

And there she found a speckled hen 
And seven chicks beside. 

Said Marg’ret to the speckled hen, 

‘If you’ll come home with me. 

I’ll give you meat and marmalade 
And spinach with your tea.’ 

‘Cluck, cluck!’ the speckled hen replied. 

‘And if it won’t be rude. 

I’ll come to tea myself,’ said she, 

‘And bring my hungry brood.’ 

Said Marg’ret to the little chicks, 

‘If you’ll come home with me. 

I’ll give you cakes and cream of wheat 
And malted milk for tea.’ 

‘Peep, peep!’ the little chicks replied, 
‘Chir throats are dry with thirst’. 

II2 


THE SNAP-DRAGON SINGS 


‘Then come,’ said Marg’ret, ‘let us run 
And see who gets there first.’ 

So down they ran ; the sky-blue crane, 
The purple duck, and then 

The seven little thirsty chicks 
Behind the speckled hen. 

The duck had beans and buttered toast 
And sugar in her tea; 

The crane had macaroni soup 
And apples, two or three. 

The speckled hen had spinach, too. 

And marmalade and meat; 

The chicks had cakes and malted milk. 
As well as cream of wheat. 

A splendid supper had they all. 

As much as they could wish; 

They emptied every single plate 
And cleared off every dish. 

And when they’d eaten all they could. 

They stood up in a row. 

And made a bow to Margaret, 

For it was time to go. 

113 


coco BOLO 


‘We’re very much obliged,’ they said. 

‘We’re very glad we came’. 

The duck, the crane, the hen, the chicks. 

They each one said the same. 

And when they all got home again 
Upon the hill so steep. 

They tucked their heads beneath their wings 
And quickly went to sleep. 

For, Oh I For, Oh ! 

We’re out for a regular spree. 

And you shall have anything else you like 

If only you’ll come to tea.” 

At the end of the song, while everybody was ap- 
plauding and crying, “Encore,” the dragon, with his 
tail hung over his arm, waltzed round and round in a 
solemn manner until he was out of breath, when he 
sat down with his back against the tower and fanned 
himself with the music. 

“Very good song,” said the King. “Does you 
credit. Drum Major. Now, get your breath again 
and sing us another. Something about Frances this 
time.” 

“Please do,” begged Frances, coming forward 
with Periwinkle under her arm. “Something about 
114 


THE SNAP-DRAGON SINGS 


me and Periwinkle — or is that too difficult?” 

“Not at all,” replied Lobsterneck. “Simplest 
thing possible. Just a moment.” 

So saying, he took his fountain pen from behind 
his ear, and spreading the music on the door-step of 
the tower, he scratched out “Margaret’s Tea Party”, 
and wrote instead, “Frances and the Spotted Pup.” 
Having done so, he sat up straight once more, tucked 
his pen behind his ear, thumped his chest two or three 
times, just to see if his scales were in tune, and be- 
gain again: 

“One summer day as Frances went 
A-walking up the street. 

She met a little spotted pup 
Who had a piece of meat. 

Said Frances to the spotted pup, 

‘If you eat all of that, 

I greatly fear, my little Dear, 

You’ll grow a deal too fat’.” 

Once more everybody joined in the chorus, though 
the words were almost entirely different: 

“For, Oh! For, Oh! 

There surely is no question, 

1 15 


coco BOLO 


That if you gobble your meals too fast 
You’ll have the indigestion.” 

With his eye fixed on Periwinkle, as if to remind 
him that he was the subject of his song, the dragon 
went on: 

“The spotted pup, he shut one eye 
And gave a little squeak. 

He could not talk, because his mouth 
Was much too full to speak. 

And then that foolish spotted pup — 

I wonder he could do it — 

He swallowed that great piece of meat 
And never thought to chew it. 

At first it tasted very good. 

But pretty soon he cried : 

‘Oh, dear! Oh, dear! I greatly fear 
I have a pain inside. 

I quite forgot to chew my food — 

I won’t forget again. 

Boo-hoo ! Boo-hoo ! What shall I do? 

I have a dreadful pain!’ 

When Frances saw the tears run down — 

They made a little pool — 

ii6 


THE SNAP-DRAGON SINGS 

She lifted up the spotted pup 
And set him on a stool. 

‘Sit there’, said she, ‘I won’t be long’. 
The puppy cried, ‘Alack I’ 

But Frances said, ‘Be patient, now. 

I’ll very soon be back.’ 

Away she ran, and back she came. 

She wasn’t gone a minute. 

She had a bottle in her hand. 

And there was something in it. 

‘Take this,’ said she, ‘and you will be 
Much better very soon.’ 

And then she gave him pepsin in 
A large-sized table-spoon. 

And pretty soon, as Frances said, 

The pain had gone away. 

‘Bow-wow! Bow-wow! I’m better now,’ 
The spotted pup did say. 

And then by every means he knew. 

By voice and attitude. 

The spotted puppy did his best 
To show his gratitude. 

117 


coco BOLO 


So Frances patted him, and said: 

‘Now, don’t forget again 
To chew your dinner, or you’ll have 
Another dreadful pain.’ 

‘I won’t,’ said he. ‘Whatc’er it be : 

Oatmeal or soup or suet, 

I never will forget again 

To chew and chew and chew it.’ 

For, Oh! For, Oh! 

There surely is no question. 

That if you gobble your meals too fas<^ 
You’ll have the indigestion.” 


Ii8 


CHAPTER X 


THE ARCHBISHOP 

H ardly had they finished the last chor- 
us, when they heard once more the 
clank of the Court Crier’s bell, and 
there were the Court Crier, himself, 
and all the courtiers running up the hill to join them. 

The King turned to fly, when Lobsterneck, with a 
sudden snort, straightened himself up, and stretching 
out his long neck, began snifling the breeze. 

“What is it. Six-foot?” asked Coco Bolo. 

Without waiting to reply, the dragon bolted into 
his tower and up the stairway, when, no sooner had 
he reached the top than he clapped his fore-paws to 
his mouth and began bellowing like a cow. At the 
very first bellow all the dog-fish down in the bay be- 
gan to bark, while Periwinkle, excitedly jumping 
about, joined in the chorus, though he had not the 
least idea what he was barking about. 

“What is it, Lobsterneck?” shouted the King. 
“Who’s coming?” 

“Can’t tell yet,” the dragon shouted back. “All I 
119 


coco BOLO 


can see is the upper half of a mast with a big gray 
cat sitting on top of it.’’ 

“A cat!” cried the King. “Then it must be the 
Archbishop.” 

“The Archbishop of Timbuctoo-and-a-half ?” 
asked Margaret. 

“Yes, the Archbishop of Timbuctoo-and-a-half. 
He promised to drop in to-day. He’s cruising around 
on his private raft.” 

“That’s who it is!” cried the dragon, leaning over 
the edge of the tower and calling down to the King. 
“I can see him now. He’s just come through the 
cloud-wall. Hooray, for the Archbishop of Timbuc- 
too-and-a-half I” 

With that, the enthusiastic Lobsterneck dived 
head-first down his staircase, with a clash as though 
someone had flung a shovelful of tenpenny nails on a 
stone pavement, bolted out of the arched doorway, 
and galloped off down the hill toward the beach to 
welcome the Archbishop. 

“Come on!” shouted the King; and away he went, 
himself, down the hill, followed by Margaret and 
Frances, the little Coco Bolos, the Admiral, the 
Court Crier and all the courtiers, everyone of them 
running so fast that stumpy-legged Periwinkle, the 
only one who had not had any aero-plane water, was 
120 


THE ARCHBISHOP 


the last in the race. 

As soon as they arrived at the pier, they saw the 
raft slowly approaching, escorted on all sides by the 
whole pack of dog-fish. It was a trim and well built 
raft, about as big as a bedroom floor, with a mast 
in the middle, to which was attached a square sail, 
blown out tight by the wind. On top of the mast, 
having evidently been scared up there by the barking 
of the dog-fish, sat a big gray cat; while in front of 
the sail, holding his crozier in one hand and kissing 
the other to the people ashore stood the Archbishop, 
himself. 

To Margaret and Frances, who had never seen 
one before, an Archbishop was almost as much of a 
curiosity as a snap-dragon. At the same time, how- 
ever, they had formed in their own minds a sort of 
picture of what an Archbishop would be like, expect- 
ing to find him a dignified old gentleman, dressed in 
black, with a bald head, a long white beard, and most 
probably wearing a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles. 

What was their surprise, therefore, when, as the 
raft drew near, they saw that the Archbishop of 
Timbuctoo-and-a-half was not by any means the kind 
of person they had imagined. He was a jaunty young 
gentleman with a neat little black moustache ; instead 
of gold-rimmed spectacles, he wore in his right eye 
I2I 


coco BOLO 


an eyeglass which he kept in place with difficulty by 
screwing up one corner of his mouth; on his shoul- 
ders, concealing all but his white silk stockings and 
red shoes, he wore a purple cloak embroidered all 
over with gold lace ; while, most noticeable of all, on 
his head was an archbishop’s mitre of ample size and 
antique design. 

Slowly the raft glided forward, until it presently 
bumped gently against the pier, when the frisky 
Archbishop, using his crozier as a jumping pole, 
leaped lightly upon the steps, and running up them 
with hand extended, he cried : 

“Well, Coco, how goes it? How are you, old 
block; and how are all the little chips? All cheerful 
and smiling as usual? Ah!” — catching sight of the 
two little girls — “You have guests, I see. Won’t 
you present me?” 

“With pleasure,” replied the King. “Ladies, let 
me present the Archbishop of Timbuctoo-and-a-half. 
Archbishop, these are my friends, Margaret and 
Frances, who have done me the honor to come to 
my garden-party. And talking of garden-parties,” 
he continued, “come along up to the palace and have 
some refreshment. Bring your cat, too. I expect 
he’s hungry. What’s his name?” 

“Thomas A’Becket,” replied the Archbishop. 



He was a jaunty young gentleman 


ft 


THE ARCHBISHOP 


‘‘Come on, Thomas!” he called to the cat. “Come 
and have some milk.” 

But Thomas A’Becket declined. He looked at the 
Archbishop, but he stayed where he was. 

“He’s a little out of sorts today,” remarked the 
Archbishop, “and if he has made up his mind to stay 
up there, it’s no use trying to make him come down.” 

“Isn’t it, though !” cried the dragon, hastily pull- 
ing off his boxing-gloves. “Just you wait a minute. 
I’ll make him.” 

“Hallo, Lobsterneck !” exclaimed the Archbishop, 
giving the dragon a friendly tap on the head with 
his crozier. “You’re here, are you? Glad to see 
you again, old gargoyle. So you think you can make 
Thomas A’Becket come down, do you? All right. 
Go ahead, and let’s see how you do it.” 

“I’ll show you. Archbishop,” replied Lobsterneck. 
“Ill fetch him down all right — never you fear.” 

Standing on the pier, the dragon stretched out his 
long neck and tried to pick the cat off the top of the 
mast with his teeth. He could not quite reach him, 
however, so — forgetting what a rickety sort of thing 
a raft is — he gathered his six feet under him and 
jumped aboard. 

Greatly to his astonishment, the raft instantly 
tilted up, the mast came over and hit him a severe 
125 


coco BOLO 


crack on the crown of his head, and the next thing he 
knew he was down at the bottom of the sea with all 
the dog-fish worrying and snapping at him — though 
this was a matter of small consequence, for Lobster- 
neck was so well shingled that the dog-fishes’ teeth 
could make no impression. 

A moment later, snorting and spluttering, up 
bobbed Lobsterneck again, with half-a-dozen of the 
biggest dog-fish holding on to his tail, while all the 
rest, leaping out of the water, turned somersaults in 
the air and barked encouragement. 

Instead of climbing up the steps of the pier again, 
so confused was the amiable old snap-dragon by the 
worrying and the barking and the splashing of the 
dog-fish, that he made straight for the shore, when, 
having shaken himself free of his tormentors, he gal- 
loped off home to his tower, upon the top of which 
he presently reappeared, seated on his three-legged 
stool, drying his scales with his pocket handkerchief. 

But though Lobsterneck’s plan for getting Thom- 
as A’Becket ashore had not turned out exactly as he 
had intended, it had nevertheless proved entirely suc- 
cessful, for when the raft tilted up and the mast hit 
the dragon such a crack on the top of his head, the 
reluctant cat was sent flying through the air, landing 
on the pier so close to Periwinkle that they almost 
126 


THE ARCHBISHOP 


bumped noses. 

Periwinkle, himself, strange to say, did not notice 
the sudden arrival of the Archbishop’s cat. With 
his head in the air and his eyes shut tight, he was 
barking and barking and barking, having the very 
best time he ever remembered, when, all of a sudden 
something sharp stuck into his nose. With a yelp 
of astonishment, he leaped backwards and opened 
his eyes, to see standing before him the angry Thom- 
as A’Becket, who, with arched back and distended 
tail, swore sharply at the unoffending puppy. 

“Oh!” cried everybody, throwing up their hands 
in dismay; for such a dreadful breach of the laws 
had never happened before. 

“Be cheerful,” said law number one; and here was 
a cat just as angry as a cat could be. 

“Be polite,” said law number two; and here- was 
a cat using language — Tut! Tut! And an archbish- 
op’s cat, too. Just think of that! If it had been a 
curate’s cat, or even a vicar’s — but, an archbishop’s 
cat! No wonder the poor Archbishop covered his 
face with his hand and blushed purple with embar- 
rassment. 

For a full half-minute everyone stood speechless, 
with hands held up and eyes and mouths wide open, 
until suddenly the Court Crier, who was the first 
127 


coco BOLO 


to recover, began ringing his bell and shouting, “Blue 
paint! Blue paint!” as loud as he could. 

Upon this, everybody else shouted, “Blue paint!” 
— the King and the Admiral and the little Coco 
Bolos, as well; though Margaret and Frances felt 
sure that half of them, at least, had no idea what 
they meant by it, especially as they kept on shouting, 
“Blue paint!” without ever thinking, seemingly, that 
it was anybody’s business to go and get it. 

The only one who seemed to be quite unconcerned 
was the one who had caused all the rumpus : Thomas 
A’Becket, himself. Calmly seated on the pier, he 
proceeded to wash his face with his paws, paying no 
attention at all to the King and his courtiers, who, 
standing in a circle around him, continued to shout, 
“Blue paint!” without intermission. 

How long they might have gone on shouting there 
is no knowing, had not Margaret interfered. Losing 
patience, she stepped up to the King, and clapping 
her hand over his mouth just as he had opened it 
for another shout — the King almost exploded at 
being so suddenly “corked” — she stooped and called 
into his ear: 

“Why don’t you send for your new policeman?” 

Coco Bolo, with his eyes turned up, waited till 
Margaret removed her hand, when he took off his 
128 


THE ARCHBISHOP 


crown with a flourish, and bowing politely, said : 

“That’s a capital idea of yours. Why didn’t 1 
think of it before?” 

So saying, he clapped his crown upon his head 
again and set off running up the middle of the pier, 
shouting, “Police !” at the top of his voice. 

Not a single one of the courtiers had the least 
idea that there was any such thing as a policeman on 
the island, but they were a well-trained company, 
and knowing that the first duty of a courtier is to do 
as the King does, they all set off running, too, shout- 
ing, “Police! Police! Police!” 

Just as they got clear of the pier and had started 
up the hill to the carpenter’s shop, round the end of 
the shop, itself, came the new policeman, running as 
fast as he could, with a butterfly net in one hand and 
a pot of blue paint in the other; while behind him 
ran the carpenter, a gimlet in his right hand and a 
hollow tooth in his left, calling out, “Hi ! Hi ! Come 
back! You’re not finished yet!” 

The policeman, however, took no notice — perhaps 
he thought he could get along well enough without 
a hollow tooth. Down the hill he came, ran along 
the pier to where Thomas A’Becket still sat washing 
his face, and made a scoop at the cat with the butter- 
fly net. 


129 


coco BOLO 


But Thomas A’Becket was not the sort of cat to 
be caught quite so easily as that. He just popped be- 
tween the policeman’s legs and came racing up the 
pier, when those wooden-headed courtiers, instead of 
heading him off, got out of his way and allowed him 
to pass. 

Away he went, straight for the palace, the police- 
man behind him and everybody else behind the po- 
liceman, until they came to the tea-garden, and there 
Thomas A’Becket vanished from sight. 


130 




Away he went, straight for 
the palace 



( 


CHAPTER XI 


THE BLUE-GUM POLICEMAN 

<( hiding somewhere,” whispered 
B ■ the King. “Look out, everybody, 

■ ■ or he’ll be jumping out sud- 

denly!” 

At this suggestion, all the court ladies, with deli- 
cate squeals, jumped upon the marble-topped tables 
and held their petticoats tight around them, while the 
policeman and the Court Crier and the Admiral and 
the courtiers ran up and down, peeping under the 
chairs and behind the bushes and flower-pots in 
search of Thomas A’Becket. 

Meanwhile, Margaret and Frances and Coco 
Bolo — the little Coco Bolos having been sent back to 
the nursery — went and sat down on the throne to 
rest, perceiving which, the Archbishop, thinking he 
would like to sit down, too, advanced towards them, 
dragging a chair behind him. 

At this moment. Periwinkle, who, as usual, was 
the last to arrive, came running to jump into Frances’ 
lap, when, passing in front of the King’s seat, he sud- 
^33 


coco BOLO 


denly stopped and began to growl. 

“What are you growling at?” asked Coco Bolo; 
and leaning forward, he peeped under the throne, 
when out bounced Thomas A’Becket right under his 
nose ! 

“There he goes!” cried the King, and springing 
out of his seat, he gave chase. 

At the same moment, the Archbishop, letting go 
his chair, rushed forward, when, as neither of them 
looked where he was going, they banged their heads 
together and went over backwards on the grass, 
where they both sat with their feet straight out in 
front of them, staring blankly at each other. 

The shock of the collision knocked off the Arch- 
bishop’s mitre and sent it rolling along the ground 
right in front of Thomas A’Becket, who, seeing what 
a good hiding-place it would make, popped into it 
and curled himself up inside. 

It was all done so quickly that nobody noticed what 
had become of the cat except the two little girls, who, 
jumping down from their seats, ran and picked up 
the mitre with Thomas A’Becket inside it. Tying 
the strings together, they carried it between them to 
the throne and there hung it up on the highest of the 
gold-knobs at the back of the King’s seat. 

“Keep quiet, Thomas A’Becket,” whispered Mar- 

134 


THE BLUE-GUM POLICEMAN 


garet, standing on tiptoe on the arm of the seat and 
peeping into the mitre. “Keep quiet, and you’ll be all 
safe.” 

“Pur-r-r!” replied Thomas A’Becket, who was 
really a very nice cat when he was treated with prop- 
er respect. 

Margaret and Frances then jumped down again, 
and running to where the King and the Archbishop 
still sat on the grass, rubbing their heads and staring 
at each other, they stretched out their hands and 
pulled them both to their feet again. 

“Where’s my mitre?” asked the Archbishop, look- 
ing all about on the ground. “Oh, it’s up there, is it? 
Did you hang it up ? Thank you, ever so much. I’m 
glad to be rid of it: it’s precious heavy and uncom- 
fortable.” 

“Mitres and crowns are heavy,” assented Coco 
Bolo. “That’s the worst of being somebody of im- 
portance. But it’s no reason why we shouldn’t have 
some refreshment, all the same. So, sit down here 
at this table, and we’ll all have some cookies and 
aero-plane water.” 

“Thank you,” said Margaret. “But, if you don’t 
mind, we should like some milk instead. We’re a lit- 
tle afraid of the aero-plane water.” 

“Very well,” said the King, graciously. “And 

I3S 


coco BOLO 


here’s a saucerful for Periwinkle. If that foolish 
cat had only behaved himself he might have had 
some, too.” 

“Mi-owl” said Thomas A’Becket in a plaintive 
tone, his voice sounding so muffled and indistinct that 
neither the King nor the Archbishop could tell which 
direction it came from. They both jumped up and 
looked under their chairs, but, of course, there was 
no cat there, so they sat down again. 

They had hardly settled themselves in their chairs 
once more, when the policeman and the Court Crier 
and the Admiral and the courtiers all came back to 
say that Thomas A’Becket could not be found. 

“What’s to be done, then?” asked the King. 
“What’s the law in the case. Policeman?” 

“How should I know?” asked the policeman. 

“Why, that’s your business. You’re the guardian 
of the law, aren’t you?” 

“I suppose I am,” replied the policeman. “But 
if there are only two laws to guard, and if neither of 
them fits the case, what are you going to do?” 

“Why I Make one that will fit, of course,” retorted 
His Majesty. “Anyone but a blue-gum policeman 
would know that I” 

“Oh, very well, then,” said the blue-gum police- 
man ; and straightening himself up, he announced in 

136 


THE BLUE-GUM POLICEMAN 


a loud voice: ‘‘Law number three: Any Archbishop 
whose cat swears in public shall be put in the corner 
and painted blue.” 

“That’s rubbish,” said Margaret. “It wasn’t the 
Archbishop’s fault.” 

“No,” added Frances. “And I don’t think it’s fair 
to punish a cat or an archbishop either for breaking 
laws they never heard of — especially a law that was 
not made till afterwards.” 

“Sorry,” replied the King, with a shake of his 
head, “but it can’t be helped. I’d be glad to let him 
off, but the law’s the law, you know. It makes me 
weep. Archbishop” — ^here the King paused and 
winked at the Court Crier, who hastily snatched a 
pocket handkerchief out of his caddy-box and shed 
one tear — “It makes me weep, as you see. Arch- 
bishop, but I’m afraid you’ll have to be painted 
blue.” 

“Blue paint I Blue paint I” shouted all the courtiers. 

“Look here I” cried the Archbishop, rising from 
his chair and rapping his knuckles on the table. 
“How can anyone think with such a racket going on? 
Look here. Coco Bolol” he continued, when the 
noise had subsided. “This new policeman of yours 
has never had any lessons in painting, has he? Well, 
I object to having any brand-new, blue-gum police- 
137 


coco BOLO 


man trying experiments on me. I’m the Archbishop 
of Timbuctoo-and-a-half, am I not? Well — Gracious, 
goodness! — whoever heard of an archbishop being 
painted by any but a first-rate artist? It’s ridiculous I 
Perfectly ridiculous! If you want your policeman 
to practice on somebody, let him practice on the cat. 
Thomas A’Becket is the one who broke the law first 
— well, then, paint Thomas A’Becket first!” 

This sounded so much like good sense that Mar- 
garet and Frances clapped their hands; whereupon, 
all the courtiers, who had just opened their mouths 
to shout, “Blue paint!” again, changed their minds 
and clapped their hands instead. 

As for Coco Bolo, he looked puzzled. He tilted 
his crown over his eye while he scratched his head, 
and then of a sudden he set it straight again, and 
jumping out of his chair, he cried : 

“I’ll tell you what! Look here! Thomas A’Becket 
is hiding somewhere close by, because we heard him 
mew just now; so, this is what we’ll do. We’ll lay 
a trap for him. We’ll set out a saucer of milk on 
the table and then we’ll all go and hide in the bushes 
and wait for him to come out.” 

It was a pretty good idea — considering what a 
thick and solid head the King had, it was a very 
good idea. 

138 


THE BLUE-GUM POLICEMAN 

The saucer was filled, when everybody went tipto- 
ing away; Margaret and Frances and Coco Bolo and 
the Archbishop going and hiding behind the throne. 

All was silent, when the little girls, peeping round 
the end of the throne, saw Thomas A’Becket climb 
out of the mitre, jump down upon the seat and go 
walking across the lawn towards the table. 

“Look out, Thomas I” whispered Margaret. 
“Look out, or they’ll catch youl” 

The old cat turned his head and shut one eye, as 
much as to say, “Don’t you worry,” and walked on, 
until, having reached the table, he jumped upon it, 
and settling himself comfortably with his fore-paws 
tucked under his chest, he began lapping up the milk. 

Two seconds later, out from behind a bush 
stepped the blue-gum policeman, butterfly net, paint- 
pot and all, while from behind every other bush and 
flower-pot came all the courtiers, with their shoulders 
up to their ears and their elbows stuck out, walking 
on tiptoe towards the table. 

“Come on, now, and see the fun,” whispered Coco 
Bolo, leading the way round to the front of the 
throne, where they all stood watching and waiting 
to see what was to happen next. 

The policeman and the courtiers had crept up 
close to the table; the former already had his but- 

139 


coco BOLO 


terfly net extended at arm’s length to clap it down 
over Thomas A’Becket; it seemed as though the cat 
would surely be caught this time, when suddenly a 
brilliant idea popped into Margaret’s head. Jump- 
ing into the seat of the throne, she clapped her 
hands to her mouth and shouted : 

“DINNER!” 

It was like magic! Thomas A’Becket was com- 
pletely forgotten in an instant. The whole company, 
policeman and all, with the Admiral behind them, 
went racing up the center pathway to the dining-hall ; 
while the jovial little King — who really had no desire 
to see Thomas A’Becket painted blue — the King, in 
ecstasies at the success of the trick, flung his crown 
upon the grass, and went stamping about, laughing 
so hard that the tears ran out of his eyes. 

“Run, now!” he cried, as soon as he could get his 
breath. “Run, Archbishop, and get aboard your 
raft ! The door is locked up there and they’ll all be 
back in a minute.” 

“Here’s your hat. Archbishop,” said Margaret, 
springing upon the arm of the throne and reaching 
down the mitre. “And, if you don’t mind, I think 
we’ll come with you. It’s time for us to go, any- 
how.” 

“I think you had better,” agreed the King. 

140 


THE BLUE-GUM POLICEMAN 


“There’s no accounting for a blue-gum policeman: he 
might be wanting to paint you next. So, if I were 
you, I’d take passage on the Archbishop’s raft and 
skip out at once. Sorry to have you go, but I think 
you’d better. See! here they come! Good-bye!” — 
shaking hands hastily — “Good-bye. Call again!” 

In fact, having discovered, by the simple process 
of banging their noses against it, that the door was 
locked, the courtiers had all turned round, and 
shouting, “Blue paint! Blue paint!” with all their 
spare breath, were racing down the pathway again, 
when Margaret and Frances and the Archbishop, 
followed by Periwinkle and Thomas A’Becket, set 
off running for the pier. 

Leaping aboard the raft, they untied it, spread the 
sail, and amid the shouting of the courtiers, the ring- 
ing of the Court Crier’s bell, the bellowing of the 
snap-dragon and the barking of the dog-fish, away 
they sailed and soon were lost to sight in the cloud- 
wall. 

On they went, softly sailing along through the 
mist, expecting every moment to come out on the oth- 
er side. But the cloud-wall must have been ever so 
much thicker than it was when they arrived, for 
they kept sailing on and on and on, long after the last 
of the dog-fish had ceased to bark and long after 


coco BOLO 


the dragon had given up bellowing. 

It was easy, slow, drowsy sort of travelling, and 
presently Frances, stifling a yawn with difficulty, re- 
marked : 

“I feel rather tired. I think Fll sit down a bit and 
rest.” 

“I think I will, too,” responded Margaret, cover- 
ing her mouth with both hands. 

“So will I,” added the Archbishop, with a yawn 
so tremendous that he had to hold his mitre in front 
of his face to hide it. 

Down they sat, therefore, with their backs against 
the mast, and as was to be expected, in two seconds 
they were all sound asleep — Periwinkle and Thomas 
A’Becket as well. 

How long they had been sailing, the children never 
could tell, when suddenly, Clink- clank went the 
Court Crier’s bell, somewhere close by. 

Margaret woke up with a start, clutching her sis- 
ter by the arm, and then for several seconds she 
stared about her, wondering where she was. 

Nor was it surprising that she should sit and stare, 
for, when at length she did recognize her surround- 
ings, she found herself beneath the trees by the sea- 
shore where she and Frances had lain down to rest 
after their vain pursuit of their shadows that morn- 
142 



Nor was it surprising that 
she should sit and stare 






'i 


J 


■ i 



THE BLUE-GUM POLICEMAN 


ing. 

There, too, sat Frances, bolt upright, blinking and 
gazing about her in a bewildered manner; and there 
too, lay Periwinkle, flat on his side, his beady black 
eyes wide open and his red worsted smile fixed and 
immovable — a yellow plush puppy once more. 

Again the bell sounded. Margaret looked hastily 
behind her, and there was old Daphne, the milk-cow, 
quietly feeding, the bell about her neck going ^^Clink- 
clank** at every motion. 

At the same moment, from far across the ocean 
came a melancholly “Hoo-oo! Hoo-oo!** 

“Hark, Frances! Hark!” cried Margaret. “Did 
you hear it? There’s the poor old dragon bellowing. 
Somebody else must have arrived. Oh, what an ad- 
venture we’ve had ! Come along ! Let’s run home and 
tell Daddy! Won’t he be glad to hear that there is 
a King Coco Bolo and a Great American Snap-Drag- 
on and an Archbishop and a Floating Island and 
everything!” 

“Won’t he!” said Frances, as they set off home- 
ward hand in hand. 


145 


ppiltilii 

>v4K;r'V\' .;\'i''-:V-' ^ -svlN'Iv^ . :''.- , ■•. / v ' ,\ i : 

imV'N ‘ ’'I -' ' - * *1 • ' • ■ • ' ^ '-Cl '. • V ’ 

^ V:.'^ : 

/ :■ : . ' 

I t ‘ • » . ' ■ . . . I 

i*.. ‘i '4 ' . * . ^ 1 • ' . ' . ’ 

IV ■ . v>' . . • ' '■ ' ' ■ ' 

'V h) '. /, ' . - 

'M !:t ' 








Mi 


• 1 


, . ' 
i 


'lH'i' !: ... 

It',-,,': . • ' ; ' 

• :'v ' ■ i 1' ' 

' • 'f' 

I I . . . ‘ t t ■ < 

f ^ i I i 

' i . • 1 . . ' . *1 


I. 

I ' 




'< , 


1 ’ 

/ ' • • I ' I I , ' ■ I 

' V <•:■ ,r 

I ■' I , ' ■ . ■ . ' 

I . • 't- • ■ • ' ■ 

*-'V i, ■' • 

I 






I I 


f > 


I , • !t' 


'■ ’ , 


■ w 


I ‘ , 

. » I . 

f>' •}' 


i • • 


f. 




t . 

» 

i 


s 


\ ^ 


/ 


1 


j 


, ' -,1 . 


t 

k , 

-I;’.' ■ . 


. ■ I , 


'I T' 

' I . 

' I 't , t • ■, . 

1 ■ 

1 ' ( j - • 


' A 


k . 


' ' I 


I r 


/ 


' * 


t 


i • 

i 

. k 

I > 


I ■ , ' /.A . ■ 


i / 


1 I 

4 . f ' ‘ . 
4. \ 'I, 


I i « 


' * 


' i 


/ • .• L'i • ■ ,'■ 

J . 1', ■•'■■■ 


’ .. 


' ; / ■ ' » - k . > ' I 

'• 'y I . k' ■ • ' 

't'.' . , .'.V ' ' ■ ' 

^.v ■ ■;/ ' ■■•".’ ' ■'.* ' 

<} f -.’ll/,. ' 

■ ' « . ; - r / J 

V' 1 I ( ]■ ‘1 

. A f k ' . . . . t ' 

'i '.7 ■ I.- ' ' . , 

V' k‘^ . y- ‘1 . '' ■■■ 


I • 


' 'i '.7 

^ ' ,v, ]■■ ‘ ■ 

: i’: 

■ , . , ‘ 

't'l' ' ) ' 4 '.'i ' ‘ 

vv^ . ■ > , ■•■.- ■' 


> 


't'l ' ) ' 4'.'i ' * ■; ■ ■ • 

V// ' ' I'k!,’ ' ''■/.'»■■■•' '' ' I ’ I ' 

' ' •/ ' <’ 

'"A' 

feilfey.!A A' 


t \ 


”ir * 7 ' .1 '* jt k » • '1 , . , . ‘ 


. . /'i' 

' ' ■ ' . 1 

' - . 1 , , 


(,• 




t iA ‘V v,.' 

;;ikk '.'JA' 


I ' « ' < 

! ■ ■ 


< , 
I 


'.f 


k . • / 


■ f 

. / . 




I « 


t ■ ■' 


4 ' 


<• •. 


it 


t ' • 


j • 




• t 


t 


^^|V 


u 


.*n 


^ ' I 


• \ • 







1 




\ 

I . • 


I \ > 


\ 


'■■ . W"'" '’'^'-'^H/>H.:.-'. . >' ' 


j 


/ • V • • «« 


I • 

% 





I 


I 

\ 


4 

^ % 

I 

< i 


\ • 


t 


> 




I 


( 


» 


\ 






i. 








t 








4 







^ 4 

I 

• f ^ 

I > 
I 



i 



I 


* 


■4 


r» 


» t 


• ^ 


* 




'i 

t 




- 


« 


* •- < 





< 


> 




» 

i 


I 

I 


t 

> 


• I 


’•. • ' 

I • 

« 


.V r 


« 



^ 


. I 






One copy del. to Cat. Div. 


j 0 i ^ 



